TMNT Half Shell Heroes: The Land Before Time
by Calmoose415
Summary: After a freak accident while testing a new vehicle, the Turtles are stuck in the time of the dinosaurs. They meet Littlefoot and must help him and his friends get to the Great Valley while also surviving against starvation, harsh weather, rough terrain, and a terrifying Sharptooth.
1. The Kronite

**Hey guys! It's Calmoose here! I'm doing this little story for fun before I finish my TMNT/Lord of the Rings crossover. Anyways, I love the Land Before Time and I just sort of got the idea to do this crossover after I saw Tmnt half shell heroes: Blast to the Past. Also Bebop and Rocksteady won't be joining the Turtles in this crossover. P.S, this takes place after Mutant Gangland and before Bat in the Belfry. **

**Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belongs to Nickelodeon**

**Land before time belongs to Universal Studios **

**I own nothing.**

Chapter 1: The Kronite

New York City.

The buildings lights lit up the beautiful night sky. It was a peaceful night.

Well, almost peaceful.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles drove the Party Wagon as fast as they could, trying to catch up with Bebop and Rocksteady's white van as they drove down the street, making several turns along the way.

Leonardo sat at the driver's seat with Raphael sat next to him. Michelangelo suddenly popped up from the back, "Party Wagon in full effect, yo!" He cheered, giving a piece sign.

"In full effect?" Raph questioned, "We're losing Tigerclaw! Move it, Leo!"

In the back, Donatello glanced at his makeshift GPS device, "Hmm, according to the GPS, it looks like they're heading for the New York Natural History Museum." Donnie reported.

"Dudes, I hear they have an awesome laser show at midnight!" Mikey said in a sing-song voice, laying down on his shell in his seat.

"Doubt their going to a laser show, Mikey." Leo replied, "Ten bucks four peanut butter pepperoni pizzas says they're out to steal something."

"Duh," Raph said, stating it like it was obvious, "I bet it's a new helmet for Shredder," He then grinned as he began listing off ideas on what it would look like, "Like red with spikes all over it. Maybe even a tassel." He then stopped in mid guess when he noticed that his brothers were staring at him oddly.

"What? Tassels are cool!" Raph said, looking away and crossing his arms.

"Stay focused, ninjas. We're getting close." Leo told them.

Meanwhile in the white van, Bebop was at the drivers seat with Tigerclaw sitting next to him and Rocksteady in the back. Bebop drove the van casually, not even noticing the Party Wagon behind them.

"Oh, I no like this van, is too small. My knees is cramped. I getting Charlie the horse." Rocksteady complained in his Russian accent, rubbing his knees to emphasize his point as he barely fit in the back of the van.

"Stop complaining, Rocksteady. I'm the one who has to drive you guys around." Bebop replied.

"Will you two imbeciles be quiet for ten seconds?!" Tigerclaw ordered in annoyance, "I'm creating a plan to steal the kronite." He then turned back to reading the map in his hands.

"Okies dokies. I says nothing, comrade." Rocksteady said from the back.

"Your talking right now." Tigerclaw replied grumpily.

"He gotcha there, Rocksteady." Bebop chuckled.

"Now your both talking! I can't take it!" Tigerclaw said, turning and glaring at them.

Soon they pulled up to the museum and parked at the front. Tigerclaw and Bebop got out while Rocksteady fell out of the back, stretching his back and his legs before following them.

After seeing them stop, the Turtles parked the Party Wagon a little ways away from the van, taking the rooftops. As soon as they saw the trio of villains go inside, they jumped onto the rooftop of the museum.

After disabling a few security cameras, they opened the skylight, slipping down quietly on some ropes into a room of dinosaur skeletons. Mikey gasped when he came face to face with the skull of a T-Rex. He screamed and accidentally let go of his rope, causing him to fall and hit the ground with a loud thud, startling his brothers.

Mikey then shot up, looking around at the exhibit in awe, "Woah, dudes. So cool!" Mikey whispered, his eyes sparkling.

"Don't touch anything, Mikey!" Leo hissed, causing Mikey to cower a bit under him.

They then quietly ran across the room behind one of the displays facing the door to the exhibit. "Are those real dinosaur bones, D?" Mikey asked.

"They're fossils," Donnie replied, going full science mode, "You see, when the bones are buried inside a-"

He was interrupted when Raph suddenly lay down in front of him, "Could you wake me after all the sciency exposition?" Raph asked sarcastically, "Awesome, thanks." Donnie gave him a dry look while Mikey snickered.

"Shh, here they come." Leo whispered. They then hid behind the other displays as Tigerclaw, Bebop, and Rocksteady walked into the room.

"Hmm, I kinda spaced out when Shredder told us what the mission was." Bebop said, scratching his head.

"We is looking for the meteorite, Bebop. Is big rock from space, da? Has some kind of special prooperties." Rocksteady explained, mispronouncing properties.

"Prooperties? You said prooperties." Bebop replied with a high pitched laugh, causing the mutant rhino to glance dryly at him.

Tigerclaw grumbled at the front, annoyed by their foolishness, "The meteorite is an energy source. Extremely powerful and incredibly rare," Tigerclaw explained, "It fell to Earth over a hundred million years ago."

"Yes, back when primitive cave persons walk Earth." Rocksteady said, flexing his muscles.

Tigerclaw facepalmed, "Humans didn't exist back then, rock head." He said, walking away while Bebop giggled a little.

"How many times I tell you is Rocksteady!" Rocksteady retorted, clenching his fists.

The Turtles popped out from behind an exhibit as the trio of villains passed by and hid behind another display in a small huddle.

"Those two were never the sharpest crayons in the box." Donnie whispered.

"What's the deal, Fearless Leader?" Raph questioned impatiently.

Leo rolled his eyes, "You and Donnie take Rocksteady. Mikey, you've got Bebop. I'll take Tigerclaw." Leo ordered before they split up. However, Mikey tip-toed back, gazing around at the dinosaur displays in awe before his eyes were set on the T-Rex skeleton.

Tigerclaw, Bebop, and Rocksteady walked up to the end of the room. In front of them was a sparkly blue rock with sharp ends, sitting on a pedestal. "The kronite." Tigerclaw exclaimed.

"Is pretty." Rocksteady commented.

"You could make a killer disco ball out of that. It would be tight." Bebop added, agreeing with him.

Meanwhile, Mikey continued to stare at the t rex skeleton as his hand suddenly reached out to touch it. Gasping, Mikey bit his lip and grabbed his arm, trying to pull it back. But unfortunately, his curiosity got the better of him as he reached out to the display. It was as if the skeleton was beckoning to him, begging Mikey for him to touch it as Mikey's finger inched closer and closer before he finally touched the skeleton's toe.

Mikey waited for the inevitable to happen. But when he saw nothing happened, he sighed in relief and brushed the sweat off his fore head. But then several bones began to collapse from the skeleton, startling Mikey, the final bone being the skull as it trapped him under it's teeth.

"Mikey!" Leo, Raph, and Donnie exclaimed in annoyance, causing Mikey to cringe.

"Turtles?! Here?!" Tigerclaw exclaimed in surprise, whipping around to see the Turtles as Mikey tried to pull his leg out from the teeth and waved sheepishly at the villains while Raph facepalmed and Leo and Donnie quickly drew their weapons for the oncoming fight.

"Aw snap," Bebop exclaimed as Tigerclaw got out his machete and Rocksteady got into a charging stance, "It's on like Ditty Kong!" He then twirled around and threw a laser mohawk, starting the fight.

Raph, Donnie, and Mikey charged forward, dodging Bebop's laser blasts while Leo clashed with Tigerclaw.

"Haven't you learned by now, cub?" Tigerclaw questioned before kicking Leo away, "I am a sensei. And you are barely a student!" The two parried each others blows before Tigerclaw disarmed Leo of one of his swords, but nevertheless, Leo stood his ground.

Donnie dodged various lasers from Bebop while also deflecting a few with his staff, "Hold still, turtle, you got nothin' on Bebop, baby! Woo hoo!" Bebop said before snapping his fingers and turning on his invisibility field.

"Oh no you don't!" Donnie exclaimed, throwing down a smoke bomb just as Bebop appeared. Bebop looked around in confusion before Donnie jumped up and whacked the pig mutant with his staff, knocking him against one of the displays. Bebop pressed a button on his belt, firing a laser and blasting Donnie away.

Raph then came in and kicked Bebop aside, "Donnie!" Raph exclaimed, rushing over to help his brother as Bebop got up with Rocksteady coming to his side.

"Over here, Rocksteady!" Mikey exclaimed, throwing two smoke bombs at them, blinding them as Mikey drop kicked Bebop, knocking him down.

"I squishes you like the blue berrys!" Rocksteady shouted before charging at Mikey. But Mikey, Raph, and Donnie jumped out of the way just in time as Rocksteady slammed into a triceratops skeleton, getting stuck in it's rib cage.

"Ugh, Rocksteady hate when this happen." Rocksteady exclaimed before Mikey repeatedly hit his butt with his nunchucks. But Rocksteady soon managed to pull himself free and tried to smash Mikey with his fist, only for Mikey to jump out of the way with a yelp.

Meanwhile, Leo jumped above another swing from Tigerclaw before parring another. He then dodged another swing and flipped up onto a spinosaurus skeleton. Tigerclaw slashed the leg of the display, causing it to shake and crumble and causing Leo to lose his balance and fall. Leo hit the ground with a hard thud, but managed to quickly recover, grab his katana, and jump out of the way as Tigerclaw slashed a pole that was holding up the skeleton.

"What's this?!" Tigerclaw exclaimed in shock before the display crashed down on him, trapping him beneath the ribs of the skeleton.

Raph rushed up and grabbed the kronite, "Got the space rock! Let's haul shell!" He said as Leo and Donnie deflected more of Bebop's lasers with their weapons. "I second that!" Donnie added in agreement.

"Booyakasha!" Mikey exclaimed, riding Rocksteady and causing him to crash into Bebop. He then flipped down and blew a raspberry at Rocksteady.

Snorting angrily, Rocksteady charged after Mikey, causing the youngest turtle to scream in terror as he rushed over to his brothers.

Approaching his brothers, Mikey quickly threw down a smoke bomb, incasing them in a huge purple mist, giving them time to escape. Rocksteady charged into the wall as the mist dissipated. The trio of villains then looked up to see the Turtles crawling out through the skylight with Raph giving them a mocking salute.

Tigerclaw growled lowly. Shredder was not going to be happy about this.

* * *

_The Lair_

Back at the Lair, Ice Cream Kitty was mashing the buttons on her control as she played her racing game. As the Turtles came over the turnstiles, they noticed Splinter wasn't around. He was probably out taking April on another training lesson and Casey was probably also on patrol.

Mikey sat down next to her, "What up, Ice Cream Kitty?" Mikey cooed, "Play'n some Marry Ann Kart, little friend?" He asked. Ice Cream Kitty meowed happily in response.

"I'm gonna examine the meteorite in the lab," Donnie exclaimed excitedly, walking to his lab, "Soooo cool."

"Great, get back to us on that while we play some video games." Raph said, fist bumping with Leo.

"I call next game!" Leo declared. He tried to grab the controller but Ice Cream Kitty snatched it away and meowed as she got first place in her game.

"That's messed up, Ice cream kitty." Leo told her. Ice Cream Kitty just meowed.

* * *

Meanwhile in Donnie's lab, Donnie was examining the kronite closely befor going to his computer to test a few things.

"How's it goin', D?" Mikey asked, popping up from behind.

"The energy per-square-inch this thing emanates is off the charts!" Donnie explained giddily as Mikey poked the kronite, accidentally shocking himself in the process, "It's even more powerful than the kraang energy crystals!"

"So, can you use it to power your super-secret project that I'm not supposed to know about?" Mikey asked, pointing to a large machine covered in a brown tarp.

"What is it? A turtle tank or something?" Raph asked as he and Leo walked into the lab.

"Oh ho ho ho, it is much more than that!" Donnie answered, before walking up and pulling off the tarp.

Before them was a giant turtle shaped ship, mostly painted green and yellow but with some parts of it being silver and brown.

"Ta da! It's my new Shell-Former!" Donnie explained with pride, standing on the roof of the vehicle, patting it proudly, "A triple changing vehicle that can fly, roll on treads, and even transform into a turtle bot!"

Leo and Raph's jaws dropped in astonishment at what their brother had created, "A turtle robot that transforms?" Mikey asked excitedly. "Dude, dude, duuuuude!"

"I know." Donnie said, walking back over to his desk. "I'll just add the crystal as a power source."

"Forget it, Donnie." Leo said, crossing his arms, "We're taking that meteor back to the museum first thing tomorrow night."

"Bad call," Raph said, placing a hand on Leo's shoulder, "Shredder's gang will just steal it again."

"Yeah, in the wrong hands, it's beyond dangerous." Donnie pointed out.

"I wanna see it transform!" Mikey exclaimed excitedly before pretending to be a transformer.

Donnie tapped his pencil to his mouth, "Hmm, test out a huge oversized transforming robo mec in the middle of New York?" He then grinned showing his gap tooth as he twirled his pencil in his hand, "I'm down."

Leo sighed. It was three to one, _again. _

And he knew this wasn't going to end well at all.

* * *

_New York_

The Shell-Former drove onto the dark streets, taking up the entire road before stopping completely.

Inside, Leo and Donnie sat at the front, with Donnie driving while Raph and Mikey sat in the back.

"Not to sound like a bummer," Leo started.

"But you'll sound like one anyway?" Raph interrupted.

Leo ignored him, "This is a super crazy bad idea. Like accent on the super crazy bad part." Leo said in concern. "Have I mentioned it's also a really terrible idea?"

But Donnie, of course, paid no mind to him as he flipped a few more switches before turning to his brothers, "Let's test this puppy out!" Donnie exclaimed with a grin, "And remember, anyone who bothers me," He then pointed to a big red button that was below the kronite, which was sealed in a glass container, "ejector seat buttons are right there."

After pressing another button, the kronite began to light up. "Yes! The crystals are working!" Donnie told them, "We're at one hundred percent power."

"Ooh, ooh, ooh! Can we test out robot mode first?" Mikey asked in a sing-song voice, reaching for the button that transformed that vehicle.

"Mikey," Donnie exclaimed, pushing him back to his seat, "ejector seats." Mikey sat down in his chair and pouted.

"Let's test out rocket jet mode." Raph suggested with an eager grin.

"Rocket jet mode it is." Donnie replied with a smile and a thumbs up. He then pulled three big levers which caused the Shell-Former to sprout wings and activate it's jets, causing it to float high above the buildings.

Once they were high enough, Donnie then pushed the wheel forward, causing the vehicle to speed forward at a startling rate. The Turtles screamed as they were pushed back against their seats at the sudden speed. Their screams only increased as they saw they were about to crash into the TCRI building.

But before they could, the Shell-Former suddenly entered a huge wormhole full of twisting lights and colors. The Turtles screamed as their bodies seemed to twist and turn in the wormhole before there was bright flash of light.

* * *

_Unkown_

The Shell-Former suddenly came out of the wormhole in a bright flash of light, appearing above a strange dessert like terrain.

Though confused, they then saw they were headed for a series of volcanoes!

"Volcanoes," Donnie exclaimed, now panicking as the volcanoes began to erupt, "Volcanoes!"

"Donnie, turn!" Leo shouted. Donnie tried to turn left, but vehicle jerked violently, causing the Turtles to loose their balance in their seats and causing Leo to accidentally slam his elbow against the ejector seat button.

Before they knew it, the roof to the Shell-Former opened up and the Turtles, who were still in their seats, shot out of the vehicle and high into the air like bullets from a rail gun. The Turtles screamed as they fell but breathed in relief as parachutes sprung out of the seats, slowing their fall. However, the could only look in horror to see the Shell-Former fly off far away into the distance.

They soon touched down on the ground, landing in large empty plane of rocky dessert.

"Is everyone okay?" Raph asked as they unbuckled their seat belts and got up from their seats.

"Not gonna say this was an awful idea," Leo said, "But, uh, where are we, Donnie?!"

Donnie pulled out a small device from his belt, his eyes widening when he saw the results.

"Somehow, we time warped back... one hundred million years.. into the.. past." He said, his voice shaking in astonishment.

The other turtles gasped in shock. They were in Prehistoric times?!


	2. A Journey Begins

Chapter 2: A Journey Begins

"We're... we're in Prehistoric times?!" Leonardo exclaimed in shock as they looked to see real dinosaurs in the distance.

"Specifically the Cretaceous," Donatello explained. "You know, give or take twenty or thirty million years."

"Whoa ho ho," Michelangelo said in awe as he saw some pterodactyl fly over them, "look at this place, it's amazeballs!"

Raphael then stomped over to Donnie, "Donnie, how the heck did we end up in this nightmare?" He questioned angrily.

"I-I don't know!" Donnie cried, his voice full of panic. "It must have been the kronite. When it overheated, it somehow created a temporal worm hole in the time-space conti-"

"Blah! Blah! Blah! Is that supposed to make sense to me or anyone else listening?" Raph interrupted rudely. "What do you think we are, NASA?"

"We went back in time!" Donnie shouted crossly at him.

Mikey still maintained his grinn, "Well, either way, this is awesome!"

Leo, regaining his composure, walked up to Donnie, "So how do we get back?"

Donnie's face suddenly faltered as a sudden realization came upon him, "Oh no." He murmured.

"Please tell us that's a good oh no." Raph said, as they're nervousness was now rising.

"It's a bad oh no." Donnie told them. "Without the Turtle-Mech, we're basically stuck here! Forever!"

The other Turtles gasped in horror as they let that sink in. Without the Turtle-mech, they couldn't go home! They wouldn't be able to see their friends or Master Splinter ever again!

"So that means.. no T.V?" Mikey questioned, his earlier excitement about being in the time of the dinosaurs now completely gone. "No video games? No pizza?!"

Suddenly, the ground began to shake and crumble as huge cracks in the ground began to spring up. "What's happening?!" Leo asked. Donnie looked around as huge ravine began to form not far away from them, while also seeing other dinosaurs fall into the ravine.

"Earthquake!" Donnie shouted. The Turtles then quickly ran for cover as the canyon began to spread even more. Once the earthquake stopped, it suddenly began to rain, hard.

The Turtles sighed in relief as the earthquake ended. They then put their hands over their heads as the rain began pouring down. Running through the rain, the Turtles ran into a small cave as the rain began to pour down even more.

"So... what do we do now?" Raph asked quietly.

Leo looked down solemnly before his face hardened, "Well, if we're stuck here, we should get some sleep." He then leaned against the cave wall, "We'll head out tomorrow and see if we can find the Turtle-mech." He then turned to Donnie, "Do we have any supplies, Donnie?"

Donnie bent over a checked four bags that he had managed to save when they were ejected from the Shell-Former. He zipped open the bags and dug into each of them, "Let's see, we've got some Chris Bradford Survival Crunch granola bars, some cold pocket pizzas, a canteen, and some flint stone."

"Then we'll have to make do with what we've got." Leo stated.

The other turtles all nodded slightly. A long silence then fell over them as they simply sat in the cave, the only sound being the pouring rain from outside the cave. However, all was not well as Mikey looked over to see Donnie looking down at the floor, a solemn look on his face.

"What's wrong, D?" Mikey asked in concern for his older brother.

"It's my fault we're trapped here." Donnie sighed. "If I hadn't messed with that stupid meteorite in the first place, none of this would have happened."

Leo felt a wash of sympathy for his brother, "Donnie," He paused for a moment, "nobody blames you for what happened. Right now, we have to focus on finding the Turtle-mech tomorrow."

"Yeah, right after a good night sleep." Raph said with a yawn.

Donnie smiled slightly, "Thanks, guys."

Mikey pulled him into a comforting hug, "No problem, bro."

The Turtles all huddled together for extra warmth and quickly fell asleep as the rain continued to pour outside.

* * *

After waking up the next day, the Turtles had a quick breakfast in the cave before stepping outside, feeling the warm morning sun brush against their skin.

"So Donnie, where do we go?" Leo asked, turning back to him.

Donnie pulled out his device and activated the homing beacon he had installed into it, "The Turtle-mech should be... that way." He replied, pointing west. "At least, I think it is."

"Then that's where we'll go, c'mon." Leo ordered as they walked out into the wilderness of the dessert.

The next few days of traveling passed over with little to distinguish them. But nevertheless, the Turtles remained undeterred as they continued through the rocky desert. As they walked, they took some of the occasional food and water breaks before continuing on.

It was the middle of the afternoon in their travels, and the Turtles were now walking along the edge of the newly formed ravine.

But as they walked along it, they heard a faint sound coming from nearby.

Halting immediately, they listened more closely to the sound.

It sounded like... someone was crying.

Walking a little bit further, the Turtles noticed they were getting closer as the sobs became louder and louder.

Rounding a small corner, they saw young apatosaurus with brown and tan skin while carrying a star shaped leaf on his back, crying heavily.

Hearing the little kid sob caused the Turtles, including Raph, to feel sympathy for the young dinosaur as they walked over.

The young dinosaur looked up and saw the Turtles, his look of sorrow changing to one of fear as he began to scramble away.

"Woah, woah, easy. We're not gonna hurt ya." Leo said reassuringly while holding his hands out in front of him.

The young apatosaurus looked at the turtles, "Who are you?" He asked timidly with the voice of a young boy.

Upon hearing the young apatosaurus actually speak, the Turtles' eyes widened until they were almost circular as their jaws dropped to the ground.

"Okay, please tell me I'm not the only one who heard that!" Mikey said in surprise.

"Nope, we all heard it." Raph confirmed in equal surprise.

"You can _talk_?!" Donnie squawked in shock.

The young apatosaurus gulped a bit, "Y-yes I can." The young apatosaurus stuttered. "But, who are you exactly?"

"My name is Leonardo," Leo began, quickly being the first regain his composure. "But just call me Leo," He then gestured to each of his brothers, "These are my brothers, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael." He then turned the young apatosaurus, "What's your name?"

The young dinosaur seemed to calm down a bit, though still scared, "M-My name's Littlefoot. I'm a Long-neck." He replied. He then gazed at the Turtles curiously, "What are you anyway? I don't think I've ever seen something like you before."

"We're, uh... shell-backs, yeah." Mikey told him, thinking that the little dinosaur wouldn't understand what a turtle was.

"Shell-backs? Really?" Raph whispered dryly. Leo elbowed him in the plastron, "Just go with it." He then turned back to the dinosaur, "So what are you doing out here all alone?"

"Yeah, and why are you sad?" Mikey added.

Littlefoot looked down again, "I lost my mother."

The Turtles each raised an eye ridge, "Oh... well, we can help you find her." Donnie replied.

"No, I mean she's gone... forever." Littlefoot said, another tear falling down his cheek.

The Turtles eyes widened a bit, "Dude, your mom died?" Mikey asked with sadness in his voice. "That is so sad." He said, whipping his eyes

"So what happened to her?" Donnie asked, treading as lightly as he could on such a sensitive subject.

Littlefoot sniffled again, "It was a sharp-tooth. My mother protected me but the sharp-tooth hurt her really bad."

The Turtles listened closely to the entirety of Littlefoot's story; how he had wandered too far away from his mother, being chased by Sharptooth, and how his mother died protecting him. It was one of the saddest stories the Turtles had ever heard, as they could somewhat understand his situation a bit.

"We're sorry for loss." Leo said, laying a hand on Littlefoot's shoulder.

"So.. what's with the leaf?" Raph asked.

Littlefoot looked to leaf on his back, "My mother gave it to me, it's called a tree star. It's all I have left to remember her."

The Turtles nodded in understanding, "So, where are ya off too?" Mikey asked curiously.

"I'm out looking for the Great Valley." Littlefoot answered.

"The Great Valley?" Leo asked in curiosity, "What's that?"

Littlefoot beamed a bit, "My mother told me about it. It's a land full of leaves and fresh water. My grandparents are heading there, and I've got to find them. My mother told me I had to follow the bright circle to find it."

The Turtles were silent for a moment before Donnie turned his back to Littlefoot and checked his device. To his surprise, it was in the direction where Littlefoot was going!

"Guys, check this out." Donnie whispered to his brothers, pulling them aside, confusing Littlefoot a little.

"According to the scanner, the Turtle mech is actually in the direction Littlefoot's going!" Donnie told them.

"Huh, talk about convenient." Raph remarked.

"Well, why don't we take Littlefoot with us?" Mikey asked, "I mean, he's going the same place we're goin'."

"I agree," Leo stated, "Besides, we can't just leave him all alone out here."

The other turtles all nodded in agreement before turning back to Littlefoot.

"Alright," Leo said, "Let's go."

Littlefoot was surprised by this, "You want to come with me?"

"Why not?" Raph questioned.

"Yeah, besides, we're actually headed for the Great Valley too." Donnie replied.

"Plus, we'll help you find your grandparents." Mikey added.

"Okay, well let's go." Littlefoot said with a small smile.

The group walked for a few hours by the large ravine, spending most of the time talking, interacting, and getting to know each other. Littlefoot had begun to grow quite fond of the Turtles as they traveled. The Turtles had told them that they were from a distant land (which was true for the most part) which amazed Littlefoot, while also getting a bunch of questions from him. They didn't mind answering some of the questions (Though Raph was a little annoyed). Littlefoot was also fascinated by the Turtles weapons, to which Donnie explained to him the function of each weapon in way Littlefoot would understand. As they walked along the ravine, they began discussing how they would get to other side. The other side of the ravine was much higher than the side they were on, and there didn't seem to be any way up there.

As they kept searching, they saw a young, possibly younger than Littlefoot was, yellow and tan colored triceratops seemingly trying to climb down the ravine.

"Cera!" Littlefoot shouted in joyful recognition. He raced over to little triceratops with the Turtles hesitantly following.

"You know her?" Raph asked.

Littlefoot looked back at Raph, "Yeah, we met just a few days ago." He glanced back at Cera, "Hey, Cera!"

Cera glanced at them and her expression turned to one of annoyance, "What do you want?" She questioned grumpily.

The Turtles raised an eye ridge a bit at her hostility. "Uh, nothing," Littlefoot recoiled, sensing her foul mood. Cera then glanced at the Turtles, "And what are they supposed to be?"

"Oh, these are my new friends," Littlefoot said, "Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Their shell-backs."

"What up?" Mikey greeted cheerfully, only for Raph to smack him upside the head.

"So, where you going?" Littlefoot asked.

Cera stuck her horn up, "I'M going to find my OWN kind." She said in a snoot tone. She then looked to the other side of the ravine, "They're on the other side."

"We already looked all over here, kid." Raph explained, "There doesn't seem to be any way we can get to the other side."

"Maybe YOU can't!" Cera snorted, trying to get in Raph's face, but only coming up to his chest. Raph frowned at her as the little three-horn then jumped down on a small ledge about a foot down from where they were standing. It started out flat, but then sloped down into the canyon.

"Wait, we're going to the Great Valley." Littlefoot said quickly, "You could come with us. We could.. uh... help each other."

Cera glowered at the idea.

"A three-horn does not need help from a long-neck!" She replied snobbishly, "And definitely not from some weird 'shell-backs'."

The Turtles frowned at Cera's stubbornness, especially Raph, who felt that the young three-horn very much reminded him of himself in the aspect of being brash, headstrong, and stubborn. With that said, he and his brothers were already beginning to dislike her.

Cera stuck her horn up in the air again and kicked up some dirt in Littlefoot's face. But her little act of defiance immediately backfired on her as she slipped on the slick ground and slid down the slope into the darker pit below with the Turtles and Littlefoot watching.

The Turtles and Littlefoot couldn't help but snicker a bit at Cera's little fall. "At least we wouldn't be alone!" Mikey called down to Cera.

Cera, feeling a dent in her pride, got to her feet and glared at the group. All though they barely see her face, they could tell she was scowling at them.

"Well, when I find my family I won't BE alone!" She shouted, "So go away!"

Cera raised her horn and tail high in the air and walked down through the ravine in a pompous fashion.

"Three-horns can be very dangerous," Cera stated, continuing her little 'superiority' speech, "And they only TALK with other three-horns. And they only TRAVEL with other THREE-HORNS!"

Donnie frowned as he looked down at her, "Big talk for someone with such a limited vocabulary!" He shot back.

Cera's eyes widened before she scowled and walked off into the darkness of the ravine. Littlefoot was also surprised at Donnie's remark, as it usually wasn't wise to mock a three-horn.

"Sheesh, what a hard-case." Raph said, crossing his arms, "And that's saying a lot comin' from me."

"Don't let her get to you, Littlefoot. We're still with you on this journey." Leo said.

Littlefoot gave a genuine smiled, "Thanks, Leo! But... there are dangerous sharpteeth out there. And I don't want anyone else to get hurt because of me." He said sadly.

Raph folded his arms across his chest, "You really think we're just gonna let you go out there all by yourself?" He probed sarcastically with a small smile..

Donnie nodded in agreement, "Yeah! And you need to get to the Great Valley to your grandparents, don't ya?"

"We're not leaving you, Littlefoot." Leo declared, his expression daring him to disagree, "We're with you all the way."

"Yeah! We're here for you, little dude!" Mikey added in agreement.

Littlefoot was surprised at first before he smiled again as he teared up a bit, "Thanks, guys. That means a lot to me."

"Okay, let's stop with the mushy talk, it's making me feel weird." Raph stated.

The others couldn't help but laugh a bit at that as Littlefoot whipped his tears away. The group then began to walk through the dessert land.

"So, Littlefoot," Donnie began, "Do you remember the way to the Great Valley?"

Littlefoot looked back at Donnie, "Well, my mother told me to follow the bright circle, past the great rock that looks like a longneck, and past the mountains that burn."

"Alright, lead the way, Littlefoot." Leo said.

And so, their journey to Great Valley began.


	3. New Friends

Chapter 3: New friends

The Turtles and Littlefoot arrived at the edge of a small forest just as the sun reached the center of the sky. Although most of the vegetation was dry, there were still some leaves left on a few branches. There was also water flowing down from a waterfall and into a pond.

"Alright, guys. Let's take a rest here." Leonardo told the others. The Turtles sat down on some rocks while Littlefoot drank from the pond. Donatello reached into his backpack and pulled out a small canteen from his belt. He walked over to the waterfall to fill it, but before he did, he stuck his hand under the waterfall and examined the water. Donnie then filled the canteen and took a small sip of the water. The taste was enough to convince him that it was fresh water and it was safe to drink, so Donnie filled up the canteen with the water from the waterfall.

"What's that, Donnie?" Littlefoot asked, gazing at the canteen with curiosity.

"It's a canteen." Donnie explained as he put the lid over the canteen and put it away, "It's this small bottle that can be filed with water for drinking later."

Littlefoot simply nodded before lowering his head down to get another drink. He didn't quite fully understand what Donnie was saying, but he too thirsty and hungry to care at the moment.

Donnie walked back to others with the canteen, "It's not much," He said, "But I think there's enough for all of us."

"Ooh, gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" Michelangelo exclaimed as snatched the canteen and began to gulp down the water. Ah, nice refreshing water.

"Hey! Save some for us!" Raphael said, grabbing the canteen and drinking some before passing it to Leonardo.

"Raph's right," Leo said in agreement as he drank a little from the canteen and then walked over to the waterfall to refill it, "As thirsty as we are, we have to conserve."

"Well, it's good thing we remember how to camp from our spirit quest." Mikey stated as he sat down on one of the rocks.

"Camp?" Littlefoot asked, overhearing him.

Again, that was a new word and concept for him. The Turtles sighed a little, but also couldn't help but feel amused by the young long-neck's curiosity.

"Basically camping is where you spend time out in the wild away from home and learn some important survival skills." Raph explained.

Littlefoot nodded in understanding. He then laid down next to the water and began to munch on some dried leaves on a nearby bush. He cringed a bit at the taste, but forced it down. Dry green food wasn't the tastiest thing in the world, but it was better than nothing.

The Turtles decided they were also a little hungry as Leo pulled out four of his Chris Bradford Survival Crunch granola bars from his back pack and passed them to the others. They quickly unwrapped them and took a few bights out of the granola bars before putting them back in their backpacks.

The sky had turned a harsh tangerine hue, and the sun shined brightly above the forest. A light zephyr made the branches rustle and rattle against each other.

"So.. how did you meet Cera?" Leo asked curiously, deciding to start a little conversation.

Littlefoot raised his head towards Leo, "I met her a few days ago when I saw her trying to squash a bug." He said. He then gave a small smile, "I remember laughing at her when the bug sprayed her in the face. I wanted to play with her, but her father came between us and told us that Three-horns never play with Long-necks."

"But why?" Mikey questioned confusedly, "Why can't we all just get along?"

Littlefoot glanced at Mikey, "Well, my mother told me that we always keep to our own kinds. The Long-necks, the Three-horns, the Spike-tails, the Swimmers, and the Flyers, we never do anything together because we're different."

The Turtles were quite surprised by what they had supposedly heard was dinosaur segregation.

"Well, just because your different species, that doesn't you can't interact with each other. Look at us, for example, we're different species and we're still traveling together." Raph pointed out.

Littlefoot stopped and glanced at the red clad turtle in slight surprise before he thought about it for a moment. Raph did have a point, just because they were different from each other that didn't mean they couldn't do something together.

For a while, neither Littlefoot or the Turtles spoke.

As they became lost in their thoughts, Littlefoot's mind drifted back to his mother, his heart filling with intense grief. He missed her so much it made his insides hurt. He shut his eyes to hold back the tears that were gathering within them. Leo noticed this as he glanced forlornly at young long-neck. Poor kid, he didn't deserve to have his mother taken from him, to be out here all alone. It reminded him of when he, his brothers, April, and Casey were staying at the farm house, isolated from civilization. Learning that Splinter was seemingly gone had really taken a toll on all of them. But he knew that no matter what, they couldn't give up, as they had learned Master Splinter was still alive when they returned to New York.

Just then, a small green Saruolophus suddenly jumped out of the water and landed right in front of the group, much to their surprise.

"Oh, hello." The little Saruolophus said in a cute little-girl's voice.

The Turtles and Littlefoot just sat there, a little too stunned to respond.

"I said, hello." The little Saruolophus repeated, expecting them to say... well, something.

"Hi." Mikey finally said with a smile, waving his hand a little.

The little Saruolophus looked to the Turtles, observing them curiously before looking back to Littlefoot, "Can he talk yet? Huh, huh?" The Saruolophus asked them.

"It's kinda..complicated." Raph replied, crossing his arms.

"Yeah. You see, he lost his mother a few days ago." Donnie added solemnly.

The little Saruolophus' eyes slightly widened before she gazed at Littlefoot sympathetically, "Oh."

Littlefoot stood up and looked down at the little Saurolophus, "What are you exactly?" He asked slowly.

"Me? My name is Ducky, yep, yep, yep!" She jumped happily, "I'm a Long-neck too, see?" She stretched her neck as long as she could, trying to resemble a Long-neck, though not really succeeding, "And I have a long tail like you." Ducky tried to stretch out her tail, but it wouldn't go far enough.

The Turtles and Littlefoot simply gave her dry/flat looks, not at all fooled by her 'imitation' of a Long-neck.

"Alright, I'm not a Long-neck, I'm a swimmer." Ducky admitted sheepishly. She then looked at the Turtles with fascination in her eyes, "I've never seen anything like you before, no, no, no. What are you?"

"We're shell-backs," Donnie explained, though still getting used to their new nickname, "We're not really from around here."

"Shell-backs?" Ducky asked, "I have not heard of those."

"It's a long story. See we're actually another part of the world-" Raph stammered a bit, crossing his arms as he tried to explain it to Ducky, "It's a long story."

"My name is Leo," Leo said, introducing himself before gesturing to his brothers, "This is Raph, Donnie, and Mikey."

"'Sup?" Mikey said, only for Raph to smack him upside the head.

"So, do you live around here?" Littlefoot asked.

Ducky's happy demeanor faded almost instantly as she shook her head sadly.

"No," She replied, sniffling, "I am all alone, I am. I lost my family in the great earth shake."

The Turtles and Littlefoot exchanged sympathetic glances. Looks like they weren't the only ones separated from their families.

Mikey stood up, walking over to Ducky before bending down to her, "Well, we're actually going to the Great Valley." He told her soothingly. "Want to come with us?"

Ducky's huge smile returned and she jumped right into Mikey's arms. He laughed cheerfully as the little swimmer happily hugged him around his neck and nuzzled her face against his freckled cheek.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Ducky exclaimed joyfully, "I do! I do!"

"Well then, we better get moving." Littlefoot said.

"I agree," Leo said, standing up from his rock and putting on his backpack, "Let's move."

Mikey put Ducky down, walked back to his rock and grabbed his backpack as Donnie and Raph also put on their backpacks.

With that, the group set out together through the forest.

The sun continued to burn down on them, only being blocked by a few large branches which provided a little shade. Although the amount of plant life was low, there were still a few tall trees with large roots coming out of the ground. Small gaps of land were cracked as the heat of the sun dried the stone and mud.

"Do you think my family went to the Great Valley too?" Ducky asked.

"Hmm, maybe." Littlefoot said. "My mother said it's where all the herds were going."

"Oh, I hope, I hope, I hope."

Mikey started to sense that the moral of the group was dropping again. He had to do something to bring it back up again. He looked down at the cracked ground, searching for an answer.

Oddly enough, this triggered a memory of him and his brothers when they were kids themselves. Sometimes when they were sad or bored they would sometimes play games like tag, hid and seek, and hop scotch.

Wait, that's it!

"Hey, let's play a game!" The orange clad turtle piped up.

"What kind of game?" Ducky asked.

Mikey began to hop with one foot on separate pieces of rock, his feet alternating with each hop.

"It's called, "Don't Step on the Crack"," Mikey explained, "Me and my bros used to play this when we were kids. You have to avoid the cracks in the ground, like this." Mikey repeated the steps as Littlefoot and Ducky joined in. Ducky began to sing a little random ditty that made the long-neck and the orange clad turtle giggle.

After watching for a bit, Donnie simply shrugged with a smile before joining in as Leo and Raph just watched with amused smiles as they walked behind them.

"Don't step on the crack-" Mikey began as he hopped again.

"Or you'll fall and break your back!" Donnie finished as he too hopped.

Mikey, Littlefoot, and Ducky laughed at the joke while Leo and Raph simply chuckled.

As they approached something that appeared to be a fern tree, they stopped when Ducky's stomach suddenly grumbled.

"My stomach is talking." Ducky gigged before Littlefoot's stomach growled too.

"Mine too." Littlefoot replied. He then looked up at the low branches of the fern tree, giving it a pensive look as he examined it.

"I wonder what this tastes like." He pondered.

Littlefoot then clamped down on the branch and pulled.

As soon as he did, there was sudden screech.

"The tree is talking!" Ducky gasped.

"Talking tree! Talking tree!" Mikey cried, only for Raph to slap him.

"No it isn't!" Littlefoot mumbled as he continued to pull on the branch.

"You should not eat talking trees, nope, nope, nope." The little swimmer warned.

Leo looked towards the fern tree, "I don't think that's the tree talking." He said.

Littlefoot gave a final hard tug, causing a small creature to fall out of the tree, shrieking. It slid down the vine and onto Littlefoot's face, causing the young long-neck to scream and release the vine, throwing the little creature away.

Ducky also screamed and ran under Littlefoot while Mikey yelped and jumped onto Leo's arm as the thing that fell from the tree continued to shriek until it hit the ground, breaking through the rocks in an almost cartoon-like fashion.

Leo stared at Mikey, who was still clinging onto his arm, a bit startled by his sudden panic.

"Heh, have you been workin' out?" Mikey asked sheepishly as he let go of Leo's arm.

Cautiously, the group approached the hole, bending down and peeking inside the hole. Inside was a small brown pteranodon with rather big eyes staring up at them.

When he saw the group, he immediately cowered away and shivered.

"Hey, hey, easy, we won't hurt ya." Donnie said gently. "What's your name?"

"M-M-My name Petrie." The little pteranodon stuttered nervously.

"Petrie, huh?" Ducky giggled, "Funny name!"

When he was sure he wasn't in danger, Petrie hopped out of the hole and looked around at the six strangers.

"I-I-I flied?" Petrie eagerly asked.

"No," Raph said bluntly, shaking his head. "You fell."

"I fall?!" The little flyer wailed, dropping to the ground in despair and whimpering in shame.

"You cannot fly?" Ducky questioned in surprise, "But how did you get up there?"

"I climb!" Petrie replied, flapping his wings in the action of climbing.

"But you are flyer," Littlefoot pointed out, "Not a faller."

"Hard thing to fly." Petrie said.

Instantly determined, the little pteranodon tried to leap off the ground. However, Petrie quickly panicked as he flapped his wings and slowly fell back to the ground.

"I guess it is." Littlefoot chuckled.

"Yeah. After all, we can't fly." Leo said humorously.

"Nope, we cannot do that alright." Ducky followed

"I wish we could fly, though." Mikey said with hope.

Donnie bent down towards Petrie, "Hey, we're on our way to the Great valley. You want to come with us?"

Petrie looked up at the purple clad turtle before smiling and nodding. Donnie then gently picked up Petrie and let him perch on his shell.

"I'm Donatello, by the way," He said. He then gestured to his brothers, "These are my brothers, Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo," He then gestured to the long-neck and the swimmer, "And these are our friends, Littlefoot and Ducky."

And so the group continued on with Donnie and Petrie lingering behind a little bit. Making sure no one else could hear them, Donnie turned to Petrie.

"Your afraid of flying, huh?" Donnie suddenly asked out of the blue.

"What?!" Petrie yelped, "No! Me flyer! Me meant to fly! Me just...don't like high places." He then looked away, ashamed.

"I've noticed how you've been acting, I'm not oblivious." Donnie said, "Hey, it's okay to be afraid. We all have things we're afraid of." He then chuckled a bit. "You know, Leo actually used to be afraid of heights too when he was a kid."

"Really?" Petrie asked, "But how he get over fear?"

Donnie simply shrugged, "He didn't, really. You can't completely overcome your fear, but you can learn to tolerate it."

"How?" Petrie asked.

Donnie smiled, "You won't know until you try."

And Donnie had meant that. While he could see that Petrie was very timid, he also had much potential in him, which reminded him of himself in a sense.

"Donnie, Petrie, you guys coming?" Littlefoot called.

"Sorry, be right there!" Donnie replied, running up to the others.

Though as the group continued walking west, the others couldn't help but wonder where Cera was right now.

* * *

A few mere hours after she left Littlefoot and the Turtles at the ravine, Cera had continued her journey down the gorge. She soon found herself wandering into a large cavern, with small rays of sunlight that peeked through the cracks in the ceiling, giving just enough light to see around the cave.

For a while, all Cera could think about was her bitterness towards Littlefoot and the Turtles. Littlefoot and that orange shell-back acting like goody-goody's and the rest of those shell-backs acting like know-it-all's and especially when the purple shell-back flat out mocked her intelligence, was enough to make her walk in a huff.

"What makes them so special anyway?" She grumbled to herself, "I can find my way to the Great Valley all on MY own!"

As she walked down the cavern, she came to a dead end where it seemed the ledge had just fallen off. Looking to her left, she saw what she thought was a dark ledge and leapt onto it. Cera looked around at her surroundings, as the shafts light cast ominous shadows on the wall and pointed rocks.

As she walked along the ledge, Cera also noticed that the ground didn't even feel like rock. More like something smooth and scaly, which did not ease her slowly growing fear as she stepped back. She gasped as she missed her footing and tumbled down the steep platform. When she landed on a small pathway at the bottom, she looked up just in time to see the sunlight cast on the thing she had been walking along.

Her blood ran cold and her heart nearly stopped at what she saw.

"SHARPTHOOTH!"

Cera screamed and quickly ran behind a large boulder. She shivered in fright as she waited for the monster to attack.

But strangely, nothing happened.

Gathering up all her courage, Cera peeked out from behind the boulder. Sharptooth was laying flat on his back, his tail draped over a pillar of rocks that had fallen due to the great earthshake, his small arms were sticking up in the air like branches on a fallen log, but most importantly to Cera, he wasn't moving and his eyes were closed.

Cera, now feeling much bolder, walked up to monster's body. Still, he didn't move. Now being brash, she stuck her tongue out tauntingly before she began ramming into his head.

"Not so tough now, are ya?" She taunted.

Now feeling overconfident, she ran back and got ready to charge again, scraping her feet on the floor. She then then charged forward and was about to hit him full force when she got a terrible shock.

Sharptooth's right eye snapped _open_!

As Sharptooth began to regain consciousness, he heard a high-pitched scream coming from right next to him. But since it was on his right, he could not see what it was. He felt a small sting as the screaming thing lightly touched his eye. He then heard it scramble away as he slowly got up.

Getting to his feet, Sharptooth sniffed the air. The scent was from the little three-horn he had encountered yesterday, however, by the time he had fully regained senses, the scent was so distant now that he would have a difficult time catching up with it. Not just by the head start the little three-horn had, but also because of the small space in the cavern that shook slightly under his weight, proving to be unstable.

It would most likely take him a few hours for him to get out of the cavern due to his large size and the unstable state of the cavern. One false move and he could cause the cave to come crashing down on him.

Carefully, he began to make his way out of the cavern.

Smelling that young three-horn's scent had stirred up memories of what happened the day before. Sharptooth snarled to himself as he thought of that insolent little long-neck. Just when he had him in his jaws, it's mother interfered!

However, Sharptooth did manage to give a sort of malicious grin as he thought of the little runt's mother. He knew perfectly well that the wounds he had inflicted were enough to kill the elderly long-neck. The young long-neck was now orphaned, alone, and unprotected.

After a couple hours, Sharptooth emerged out of the gorge like a living nightmare.

The Bright Circle was high in the sky with clouds floating across it. Sharptooth took a few whiffs of air before finally catching the scent of the three-horn again. But what pleased him the most was that he also caught the scent of the young long-neck.

The three-horn must have found a way out of the caves and ran away out of pure fear. However, whether intentionally or not, she was also running in the SAME direction where the young long-neck was going.

However, as he caught the scent of the little long-neck, Sharptooth caught the scent of something else, something...new. Something he had never encountered before. There were actually four new scents, all foreign to him. And he knew whatever these new scents was, they close behind the young long-neck.

However, that didn't matter to him at the moment. He could easily catch up to them with no problem.

He was ready for revenge! For blood! The blood of the ones who dared to wrong him!

He would go after the long-neck first. Besides, that little runt was the reason he got the scar on his right eye, causing him to lose vision in that eye. That hatchling would pay dearly for that. And he was not going to make his end swift; he wanted to see the long-neck suffer, as he had suffered. He would make sure the hatchling would stay awake and alive to feel every single bite and cut, his death would be beyond excruciating.

Next, he would pick off the new scent. Whatever they were, he could easily dispose of them, make their ends swift. Just a quick bite of his jaws and they would be done for. His mouth began to water at the thought of what this new flesh would taste like.

With that, the monster set out towards the west, hunting for his prey.


	4. A Three-Horn & a Spike-Tail

Chapter 4: A Three-horn & a Spike-tail

The group had stopped again for a lunch break with Littlefoot, Ducky, and Petrie eating some of the surrounding green food while the Turtles ate some more of their granola bars. However, they were quickly running out of food, and if they couldn't find more, they'd starve to death.

Littlefoot quickly began to notice how the Turtles ate. It had never occurred to him until now that he had not once seen them eating tree-stars or any other kind of thing of that nature. They would just pull one of those things they called "granola bars" out of their backpacks and munch on that.

However, the way they paused and looked in their bags made him feel somewhat uneasy, as he noticed they were looking mildly distressed.

"Are you guys okay?" He asked.

The Turtles glanced towards the young long-neck, "We're fine, Littlefoot. Don't worry about it." Donatello said casually.

At that moment, the group heard a snarl coming from nearby.

"What that?" Petrie shivered.

"Over here." Leonardo whispered, moving behind a large tree root with the others quickly joining him. Leo put his finger in front of his mouth, silently telling them to be quiet. Cautiously, Leo slightly peeked over the root.

From the other side of the root, a large light green Dimetrodon walked by. It stopped close to their hiding spot as it growled and sniffed the air while flicking it's tongue like a snake. The group held their breath, nervously waiting to see what the creature would do next. Slowly, Leonardo moved his hand towards the hilt of his katana, ready to draw it and face the creature if necessary.

But suddenly, as if it seemed disinterested in the area, the Dimetrodon slowly lumbered away.

Sighing in relief, Leo waited until the Dimetrodon was gone before turning to the others.

"Coast is clear," He reported, "Let's go."

Once again, the group of seven set out on their path.

As they walked along the trail westward, the sunlight burned down through the tree branches, creating jagged shadows that made one think of claws. Dead leafs crunched under their feet as they had to watch out for small tree roots that jutted out of the ground.

Petrie, being very skittish, jumped at nearly every little noise.

When Donatello stepped on twig, causing it to snap loudly, Petrie nearly had a heart attack as he jumped off Donnie's shell and rushed up Littlefoot's back and onto his head.

"Ow!" Littlefoot winced as Petrie's tiny feet gripped his nostrils, "Petrie, get off!"

But Petrie didn't get off. Instead, he shivered under the tree-star that graciously landed on him.

"Oh, sorry." Petrie said sheepishly as he peeked out from under the tree-star, "But we all alone. What if sharp-teeth attack?"

Down at Littlefoot's feet, Ducky shuddered.

"Oh yes, what if sharp-teeth attack us?"

"More sharpteeth?" Michelangelo questioned fearfully.

Raphael smacked him upside the head, "If there are any, we'll take care of them. So stop worrying already!"

"Raph's right. We'll be fine." Littlefoot added, though sounding more annoyed then assuring. He then looked up at Petrie, who was still on his head, "Are you just going to stay up there?"

"Yes." Petrie replied, making himself comfortable on Littlefoot's head.

"Well, you can't." Littlefoot said before trying to shake Petrie off. But Petrie held on with a firm grip, while also accidentally ripping the tree-star.

"Your tearing my tree star!" Littlefoot stated, getting more and more frustrated with the flyer.

"It is very special, very. His mother gave it to him, she did, she did." Ducky said.

"After all, it is all he has left of his mother." Donnie added.

"Ooh! Mother present very important. Oh, yes, I keep it safes. Don't let nobodies touch it." Petrie exclaimed, rolling up the tree-star like a piece of paper.

"Yep, Petrie," Ducky said, You keep it safe, yep, yep, yep."

"Nope, nope, nope," Littlefoot replied, "I'm not a carrier. Get off!" The young long-neck tried to shake Petrie off again, but Petrie didn't budge as he dropped the tree-star. Luckily, Littlefoot was able to catch it in his mouth.

"Your a flyer, so start flying!" Littlefoot told him before he began running, much to Petrie's alarm.

Petrie shrieked and clutched to Littlefoot's head as the long-neck's sudden run caught him off guard. Ducky and the Turtles quickly ran after them.

"Open your wings, Petrie!" Ducky exclaimed, "Fly! Fly!"

"Spread those wings, Petrie!" Mikey called, "Let's see ya fly!"

"Guys! He's not ready yet!" Donnie protested.

"Course he is," Raph told him before turning to Petrie, "Come on, Petrie! Toughen up and fly!"

"No, no! Me cannot do this!" Petrie cried fearfully.

"Yes you can!" Littlefoot yelled, "Just open your skinny wings!"

Leo looked ahead and saw that they were running right for a skeleton that stuck in some vines, and the others didn't seem to notice.

"Guys, look out!" Leo called out.

Raph, Donnie, and Mikey quickly noticed the skeleton and immediately stopped in their tracks. Littlefoot, Ducky, and Petrie were not so lucky as they hit the skeleton head on, causing the skeleton to fall onto them. Now going into panic, Littlefoot began running again as he tried to shake off the skeleton with the others quickly following him.

However, as they ran, the Turtles saw Cera coming their direction. She was looking frequently over her shoulder and running fast and hard. From the looks of it, she was frightened out of her mind. Littlefoot quickly noticed Cera and screeched to a halt, causing the skeleton that was on him to fly off his body and tumble towards Cera. The skeleton hit Cera, knocking her onto her back. As she looked up, she saw Littlefoot and the Turtles. And seeing them again was the last thing she wanted right now. She panted and hardened her face. She just HAD to run into them again.

"Cera, it's you!" Littlefoot said, becoming concerned as to why she was so scared. "What happened? Why are you so frightened?"

Cera scowled as she sat up, marching over to Littlefoot and getting in his face.

"Frightened, ME?" She scoffed, suddenly sounding confident. She then mockingly laughed as she pushed past Littlefoot.

"Well, yeah," Mikey shrugged as Ducky and Petrie slipped off Littlefoot's back, "You were running like you saw a ghost or something."

Cera looked back and glared at the orange clad turtle.

"Why are YOU so frightened?" She retorted.

"We're not frightened, are we?" Littlefoot said, looking to the others.

"Nuh uh." Raph said.

"No." Leo added.

"Not at all." Donnie stated.

"No way." Mikey said, shaking his head.

"Nope, nope, nope." Ducky added.

"Well you should be!" Cera snapped, a hint of terror slipping into her voice.

Then, almost immediately, she turned back to the others as her face discreetly changed to a look of mischievousness.

"I could be with other three-horns, but I chose to come back to warn YOU." The young three-horn grinned, "I...met...the Sharptooth!" She said dramatically.

"SHARPTOOTH!" Petrie screamed, leaping onto Donnie's arm.

Ducky gasped and rushed to hide behind Mikey's leg.

The Turtles, however, were completely unfazed. What was she talking about? Didn't the Sharptooth die in the great earthquake a few days ago?

Littlefoot frowned, "C'mon, Cera! Sharptooth is dead! He fell into the great underground!"

"And THAT'S...where he met me!" Cera brashly replied, trying to sound brave.

"Oh, dear, brave Cera." Ducky praised, admiring by Cera's story.

"Dear, brave Cera." Petrie also praised.

Littlefoot glared at Petrie while the Turtles faces remained full of skepticism. They could easily tell right off the bat that the young three-horn was making it all up to sound brave. But they clearly remembered seeing her terrified face when she was running towards them only a few moments ago.

"Yes," Cera boasted, swelling with pride, "I am brave."

"Sharptooth is DEAD!" Littlefoot scowled.

"Hey!" Donnie suddenly spoke up, getting everyones attention, "What exactly about this particular sharptooth makes him so dangerous?" He questioned,

"Yeah," Leo added, "What makes him so different compared to...uh...other sharp-teeth?"

The young dinosaurs looked to each other, confused as to why the Turtles had never heard of Sharptooth.

Finally, Littlefoot sighed and began to explain the story.

"Sharptooth was the most feared among sharp-teeth because of his ruthlessness, cunning, and power. Some called him "The Walking Terror". No one knows where he came from or how he became so powerful and feared. All they knew was that he was dangerous." He then shivered nervously, "Another thing that set him apart from other sharp-teeth was that he almost always hunted long-necks."

Whether on impulse or by something else, Turtles felt slightly unnerved by this tale. This Sharptooth reminded them of certain evil ninja master that would stop at nothing to hunt them down.

"One thing's for sure," Littlefoot continued, "once he's chosen a single leaf-eater, or even a herd as his prey, they never survived."

"But..you and Cera did." Mikey pointed out, still a little unnerved by the story.

Petrie and Ducky gasped after hearing that.

"You survived an attack from Sharptooth?!" Ducky said, coming out from behind Mikey's leg and jumping onto the end of a wooden slab nearby, her eyes wide in amazement.

Cera smugly leapt over Ducky and onto the wood and began boasting again.

"Yes, we did," She continued in a prideful voice, "And after a little lesson I taught him back there in the underground, he'll-"

"Okay, now you're just making things up." Raph interrupted in a dry tone.

Cera feeling insulted by that statement, whipped around to Raph, looking as if she had been slapped in the face.

Littlefoot, Ducky, and Petrie looked at Raph like he had just spat in their faces. NO ONE would ever tell a three-horn that it was lying unless they wanted a death-wish.

"Are you calling me a lier?!" Cera growled.

"As a matter of fact, yes, I am!" Raph retorted, "In fact, I'd like to see you try and prove that you met the Sharptooth!"

Cera fumed with rage as the two glared daggers at each other. This creature had the nerve to tell her off?!

"Fine! I WILL prove it!" Cera stated, jumping off from the big plank of wood, "I was all alone with him in the dark, just the Sharptooth and me." She said in a low tone as Petrie, Ducky, and even Mikey shuddered while Littlefoot, Leo, Raph, and Donnie frowned, still not believing her.

Cera then looked at Ducky as she continued, "I could hear him breathing," She began making deep breathing sounds to emphasize her point. Ducky shook fearfully as Cera went on, "I could see his one big ugly EYE looking for me." Cera made some snarling sounds as she moved closer to Ducky.

"What did you do? Huh, huh?" Ducky asked nervously as she backed up to the end of the wooden plank.

Cera turned around and looked directly at Littlefoot and the Turtles, "I walked right up to him, and looked him straight in the eye," Cera said. Littlefoot and Mikey looked a little nervous now, but Leo, Donnie, and Raph weren't at all scared, "And I said..." Cera then jumped and landed hard on the other end of the wooden board with a roar. However, as she landed, Cera unknowingly sent Ducky flying like a catapult launching a cannonball.

Soon everyone's attention was drawn to the little swimmer flying through the trees until she was out of sight.

* * *

Ducky sailed through the branches and headed straight for the ground. But a loose vine caught her around the waist and broke her fall as she landed on the ground.

She slowly got up and shook off her dizziness. When she looked around her surroundings, the sound of an egg cracking caught her attention.

Cautiously, she headed towards the sound and saw it was coming from a tall clump of grass.

The others soon began to calling for her, but the little swimmer didn't seem to notice.

"Hello?"

She smiled as she peeked through the reeds.

In the center of what appeared to be the remnants a nest was large egg. The cracking noise was definitely coming from this object. But as the egg began to crack, Ducky could also hear snoring sounds too.

The little swimmer jumped through the grass and examined the egg, which seemed abnormally large. The snoring was definitely coming from inside of it.

"Hello?"

She walked around the egg, running her hand across the surface of the egg as she did.

Suddenly, the egg jolted and the top cracked even more. As Ducky continued to creep around it, a pair of eyes lifted up the broken piece of shell slightly and watched her. When she looked up at them, the eyes quickly ducked back inside the egg.

"You should come out." Ducky happily urged, climbing to the top of the egg. "You should. You are late, yes you are. Yep, yep, yep!"

Instead, the hatchling inside the egg snored and grunted, as if it was perfectly content with staying inside it's shell.

"Come out!" Ducky encouraged, lifting the top off and throwing it away before looking inside the egg. "You are all alone, are you not scared, huh?"

The face of the newborn dinosaur finally came out of the shell. The hatchling had green-colored skin, a relatively long snout, and rather droopy purple eyes.

When he saw Ducky, he smiled for a brief moment before yawning and falling on his back.

"We're going to the Great Valley." Ducky explained as she began peeling off the rest of the egg. "You can come with us, yes you can."

When the little swimmer broke apart the last piece of the shell, the hatchling's tail flipped over. On the tail, Ducky managed to catch a glimpse of four dark green bumps that were at the end of it.

"You are a spike-tail," She observed, "So we'll call you Spike."

Once broken free from his confinement, Spike flipped back over onto his front and immediately began eating the grass.

Ducky stepped back and watched as the newly hatched spike-tail ate the entire grass shelter in just five big bites. He didn't seem to care that the grass was dry and almost withered, all he seemed to care about was the fact that it was edible.

Then, as if satisfied with his meal, Spike just laid back down and fell asleep.

* * *

Leo grunted with effort as he sliced yet another thick low hanging vine out of their path with his katana blade, wiping sweat off his brow with the back of his hand as the seven of them trekked through the thick forest, searching for Ducky.

"DUCKY!" Littlefoot called out.

"DUCKY!" Mikey's voice coming immediately after as he, Donnie, and Raph sliced through a few more vines with their weapons, "WHERE ARE YOU?"

At last, with one last slice of Leo's sword, they emerged from the trees.

"It's about time!" Cera snorted.

"Well, I didn't see you trying to help." Raph scoffed, irritated.

"How could I when you wouldn't get out of my way?!" Cera retorted. "Seriously, your bigger than I remembered!"

"You calling me fat?!" Raph snapped.

"Of course not!" Cera then maliciously grinned, "For a spike-tail!"

The young three-horn laughed at her own joke while the others just glared at her.

While the comeback itself was pretty weak, the insult itself made Raph clench his fists and growl slightly in anger.

Fortunately, Raph didn't take the insult to seriously for one good reason.

"Really?" He scowled, "You looked at yourself lately? 'Cause I'm like a twig compared to you!"

"Raph! Cera! Enough!" Leo told them, "This is no time for fighting."

"Leo's right, you guys," Littlefoot agreed, "We can't start arguing now. Not while Ducky is still out there."

For the past few minutes, during the whole time they were searching for Ducky, the red clad turtle and the young three-horn had just been arguing non-stop. In all honesty for Leo, Donnie, Mikey, Littlefoot, and Petrie, it was getting pretty tiresome.

Just then, Cera stuck her horn up in the air. As she did, walked smack-dab into a tree with a loud thunk.

Raph gave a laugh as he felt a sort of satisfaction toward the karma. Donnie, Mikey, Littlefoot, Petrie, and even Leo were trying to hold back their laughter as some of them put their hands over their mouths.

"I meant to do that!" Cera grumbled angrily, feeling a huge dent in her pride.

"Ha, ha!" Raph sarcastically chuckled, "Of course you did!"

However, karma goes both ways sometimes.

While Raph was busy taunting the young three-horn, he failed to see a large object in front of his feet. So when he didn't lift his foot high enough, he quickly tripped over it, landing face first in the dirt. He lifted his face out of the dirt, mentally cursing himself for not looking where he was going.

_Some ninja._

From behind, Cera burst out laughing as she saw the score had become even.

Raph quickly jumped to his feet and glared at the young three-horn, brushing the dirt off his skin.

"Raph," Ducky said as she walked to the red clad turtle, "you just tripped over Spike! Yes, you did!"

"Spike?" Mikey questioned, lifting an eye ridge.

The others looked to see what Raph had tripped over and saw a large stegosaurs hatchling. Due to Raph not paying attention to where he was going, he had awoken the newly born spike-tail, which was now staring at them.

Everyone gazed at the little stegosaurus, who was looking happily back at them, at least that's what they assumed. His expression seemed rather...dreamy. As if he was off in his own little world.

"Where'd he come from?" Mikey asked curiously, bending down and looking over Spike. He then smiled, "He looks kinda cute." He then turned to the others, "Can we keep him? Can we, pleeeaaase?" He begged, his eyes sparkling.

"He just hatched. He did, he did!" Ducky explained. "I told him he could come to the Great Valley with us."

"Oh, no!" Cera immediately objected.

"Why not?" Petrie asked, confused.

Cera turned away rebelliously, "It's already bad enough that I'm stuck with a long-neck, a swimmer, a flyer, AND four shell-backs. There's no way I'm traveling with a spike-tail too! Besides, he just hatched and will only slow us down! Not to mention, it's one more mouth to feed and who knows when we're gonna find food again!"

"Cera, that's not fair!" Littlefoot protested.

"Yeah! We can't just leave him out here!" Mikey also protested, holding Spike's face as the little spike-tail nuzzled him, "Look at his adorable little face."

"I just find it unnatural!" Cera rebuked, "My father told me that three-horns never do anything with other herds!"

"Yeah, well, your dad's not here." Raph said.

"And you can't always rely on your father's ideals. We're on our own out here," Donnie added. "We have to make our own decisions now."

"Spike's coming with us, whether you like it or not." Leo stated firmly.

Cera turned around and glared at the blue clad turtle.

"And I'm personally getting sick of your bossiness!" She snapped, "Who put you in charge anyway?!"

"I put myself in charge," Leo retorted, glaring back at her, "Got a problem with that?"

"Yeah, I do." Cera stated, "You think your so smart and that you know everything! Well guess what, you don't!"

Leo clenched his fists. He wasn't going to admit it yet, but Cera was very much beginning to ware on his last nerve with her constant boasting and rebellious attitude. However, Leo didn't let Cera's words get to him.

"Your right," He replied, his voice was calm, "I don't know everything. But I do know this: we're together now. And we have to stick together if we want to survive. And no one gets left behind."

For a few seconds, the two just glared at each other, as if they were having an intense staring contest.

Finally, Cera huffed and grumbled something under her breath before turning away rather sourly.

Littlefoot looked at Spike and began trying to figure out how to get the spike-tail to follow them. By the looks of him, he didn't seem to interested in walking anywhere. He was also quite big for a hatchling, almost as big as Littlefoot himself!

There was no way any of them would be able to carry him.

Suddenly, a small memory came back to him. He remembered a few days ago after his mother died and he was still mourning for her, he had stopped on his way to the Great Valley to rest, when he saw a small family of flyers fighting over a sweet bubble.

Whenever one would get it, the others immediately went after the one who claimed possession of it. It ended with a scaly-landcrawler grabbing the sweet bubble with it's tongue and eating it. Shortly after that, the flyers' mother came and gave them each a sweet-bubble she had gathered before hand.

As Littlefoot thought of this, he quickly realized that they only followed the one with the sweet-bubble because it was the thing they wanted the most. Maybe that trick might work here as well.

And much to his luck, a patch of a few sweet-bubbles was growing nearby.

Littlefoot couldn't resist the smirk that came to his face. Talk about convenient.

"Guys," He said, "I've got an idea."

Littlefoot ran over to the patch and picked some sweet-bubbles off. Wanting to make sure that Spike would even eat the sweet-bubbles, he dangled them in front of the young spike-tails nose.

Spike looked at the sweet bubbles, smiled happily at the sight of food and immediately ate them off the branch.

Littlefoot, excited by the positive results, ran back to the bush and snapped off another branch. This time handing it to Ducky.

"Huh?" Ducky wondered what the long-neck was doing.

"Ducky, you ride on my tail and use these to lure Spike along." Littlefoot explained, "He likes the sweet-bubbles, so we can use them to get him to follow us."

"Sweet-bubb.." Donnie started, as the Turtles were slightly confused by what they were before catching on what he was saying, "Oh, you mean berries."

"Yeah, what you said." Littlefoot acknowledged his choice of word. By now, he was getting used to the Turtles using different words to say the same things.

"That great idea!" Petrie exclaimed joyfully.

"'That great idea'." Cera mockingly repeated in a whisper. "Please."

Ducky immediately got on the end of Littlefoot's tail and dangled the berries in front of Spike's nose again. As Spike reached out to eat them, Littlefoot started walking. And just as he hoped, Spike got up from his spot and began following the bouncing berries.

"Nice job, Littlefoot." Leo smiled and patted his head.

"It was nothing, really." Littlefoot grinned.

With that problem solved, the group set out once again to the west. The sun, while still high in the sky, was slowly reaching the horizon.

Soon, it would set, and night would come in.


	5. Companionship

Chapter 5: Companionship

There had never been a herd like this before: An Apatosaurus, a Triceratops, A Saruolophus, a Pteranodon, a Stegosaurus, and four Mutant Turtles. Although the converging of different species was either taboo or frowned upon by most, these simple travelers had somehow made it possible.

However, Cera walked a distance away from the group. Not only was she uncomfortable with the idea of coexisting herds, but also felt a bitter dislike towards the Turtles.

Leonardo was always acting so brave and sure of himself while also leading the group, which Cera didn't like. Seriously, who put him in charge? If anyone should be the leader of this herd, it should be her!

Michelangelo always acted like a big silly goof-ball with his constant jokes and cheerful attitude, which annoyed Cera to no end. Does he ever stop joking? Does he ever take anything seriously? Not only that, but the fact that Mikey was a complete idiot didn't help either.

Donatello acted like he was so smart and that he knew everything. And whenever they would say something, Donnie would correct their words with another kind of word of his own. While the others went along with it, and some even seeming to be excited about learning a new word, Cera found it extremely irritating. What made him so bold as to completely change the way they talk?

And then there was Raphael. A shell-back with a temper just as fiery as her own. From the get-go, she knew they didn't like each other. Whenever she made a complaint about someone or something, he would always be there to counter or insult her. Out of all four of the Turtles, Raph was the one that annoyed her the most.

All in all, she didn't like them at all. As they walked, Cera seemed to notice that the Turtles were hiding something, but they probably weren't going to tell.

Littlefoot also seemed to notice this, growing more concerned for the Turtles. Since they had met him and comforted him, Littlefoot was grateful to have loyal friends like them. But what were they hiding? What was so important about them that they had to keep secret?

The sun was almost down when the group stopped by a large river near a waterfall to get a drink and then to eat from a nearby tree. The sky was now painted in a rich vibrant red with a slight golden tint to it, with the moon slowly creeping into visibility, just lightly blending in with the heavens above.

Seeing this, the Turtles took this opportunity to refill their canteens. However, as they put them away, they noticed that they had run out of granola bars, much to their dismay. Now all that was left was a few pocket pizzas, which really wasn't much.

The only reason they were able to survive on so little food for so long was because of their ninja training, which thankfully boosted their endurance so that they could go a full day without eating anything. However, they could feel the fatigue was slowly starting to catch up with them.

"Great." Raph muttered crossly, "Now what do we do?"

As if to miraculously answer his question, the Turtles looked into the river and saw a small school of fish that vaguely resembled salmon swimming in it.

"Does that answer your question?" Mikey asked in a sly voice. Raph responded by smacking Mikey in the head.

"Enough, guys. Let's gather some fish for later." Leo stated.

"Well, at least we won't have to worry about starving." Donnie said in relief.

However, their relief from seeing another source of food was suddenly shattered when they saw Littlefoot and his friends walk over to the river to drink.

They just HAD to become friends with a bunch of plant-eaters who despised anything that eats meat!

"Oh, snap." Mikey said, "How are we gonna explain this to them?"

"Simple, we don't." Raph replied as he caught some fish in the river and put them in his backpack.

"But what happens if they find out?" Donnie asked nervously, not wanting to lose their new friends.

"Well, let's just hope they'll still accept us." Leo said. They had all become quite fond of the kids at this point. And they didn't want the fact that they ate both meat and plants to break up their friendship.

"By the way, guys," Donnie said, "I've been thinking about all thats been happening recently."

"What about it?" Mikey asked, not following him.

"Well, this is the Cretaceous period right? And Spike is a stegosaurus, and his kind doesn't even live in the Cretaceous, they lived in the Jurassic period. Also, remember that dimetrodon from earlier? Well, according to history, dimetrodons were around during Permian period, about two-hundred-eighty million years before dinosaurs even came into existence." Donnie stated, "Not to mention that most of the dinosaurs here are capable of speech, which we know was not in their nature."

"Where are you going with this?" Leo asked, slightly nervously.

"I'm saying that when the kronite overheated, not only did it cause us to travel back in time, but into another dimension! One where the dinosaurs never went extinct!" Donnie finished.

The Turtles gasped in shock! They time traveled AND dimension warped?! How was that possible?!

"Well...that explains a lot." Raph said, breaking the silence between them.

"That also complicates things too." Leo added.

With that said, the Turtles quickly gathered up enough fish without the others noticing before joining them at the small waterfall.

After getting a short drink, Littlefoot walked over to waterfall, observing it closely.

"Hmm. My mother told me tree-stars grow where there's lots of water." Littlefoot said, bending down and observing the water in the shallow stream, "So if we follow the water..."

Petrie crawled to the edge of Littlefoot's nose and took in a long whiff of air, "Hmm, no green food here and I still hungry." He whimpered.

"I'm still hungry too." Ducky added, joining Petrie on Littlefoot's head and rubbing her belly to emphasize her point.

"Don't worry, guys. I'm sure we'll find some green-food somewhere." Mikey said cheerfully.

As Littlefoot straightened up, Ducky and Petrie slipped off the young long-neck's head and fell into the shallow water. Littlefoot started sniffing the air along with Spike as they began to wonder off in another direction. "Do you guys smell something?" Littlefoot asked.

The Turtles sniffed the air themselves, curious on what Littlefoot was going on about.

"It's pretty faint, but I think I smell some leaves nearby." Donnie stated.

"Yeah, I smell 'em too." Raph agreed.

Petrie popped out of the water and sniffed the air while Ducky stayed perched on his head, "I..I smell..I smell...hmm, Ducky."

"You smell me?" Ducky giggled as she jumped off Petrie's head.

"I smell water." Littlefoot said as he and Spike followed the river, "I smell," He took a big whiff of air before his eyes widened in excitement, "Tree-stars!"

Littlefoot started to run down a rocky slope with the others quickly following them. Through there and at the bottom of the hill was a large group of trees huddled together.

"Look! Green food!" Ducky exclaimed happily.

"The Great Valley!" Cera exclaimed before grinning smugly, "I found it!"

"No you didn't!" Littlefoot frowned at her.

"Are you sure this is the Great Valley?" Leo asked just to be sure.

"It's got to be!" Littlefoot replied, his excited demeanor returning.

"Really? 'Cause I was kind of expecting the Great Valley to be a little...bigger." Raph said.

"Who cares, dude? We're finally here!" Mikey cheered.

However, before anyone could say anything else or even go down the hill and to the trees, the ground suddenly began to shake and rumble, as if some mighty force was shaking the Earth itself!

"Earthshake!" Ducky screamed.

"We've got to get out of here!" Donnie shouted. Without any second thoughts, the group quickly started climbing over the rock opening. The Turtles were able to climb over the rock opening with ease while the others were finding it rather difficult to climb over.

"This way! Come on!" Littlefoot yelled as Leo and Raph helped him and Cera get over the rocks and behind some cover. Due to the loud shaking, Petrie lost his balance on Littlefoot and fell off only for Donnie to catch him in his hand and get him to the other side.

"Come on, Spike!" Ducky cried to Spike as the spike-tail tried to climb over the opening. "Hurry up!" She yelled as the rumbling seemed to be getting even closer. However, Spike was to heavy as he was slowly crawling over the opening.

Luckily, Raph and Mikey went back through the rock opening, getting Ducky to the other side while pushing as hard as they could to get Spike over.

"Raph! Mikey! Spike! Get out of there!" Littlefoot shouted over the rumbling.

"Come on, guys!" Donnie encouraged.

Eventually, Raph and Mikey managed to get Spike over the rock opening and quickly joined the others behind a series of rocks. And just in time too as a large herd of long-necks came crashing and stampeding through the opening.

"Get down!" Leo shouted. The others didn't need to be told twice as they quickly ducked for cover while the long-necks stampeded down to the cluster of trees. Coming out of there hiding spots, they looked down and saw that the long-neck herd was eating all of the leaves!

"They're eating our food!" Cera exclaimed outrageously, "Look at what they're doing! They're so greedy!"

"You can't really blame them." Donnie said, "They must be just as starved as us."

"What about me? I'm still hungry!" Cera said in frustration.

The Turtles rolled their eyes as they tried to ignore Cera's ranting.

"You hungry?!" Petrie scoffed, "I empty all the way up to the top!"

Cera simply glared at the little flyer and walked down the hill.

"Now we at Great Valley and still no green-food! Oh, we be hungry forevers." Petrie moaned, slumping on the ground.

"No, Petrie. Cera was wrong." Littlefoot said, "This isn't the Great Valley."

"Yeah, if anything it's just a forest of deadness now." Raph added.

"Oh, it not a great anything. Nope, nope, nope." Ducky agreed.

Leo sighed, "Let's go see if there's anything left down there."

The group quickly ventured down the rocky hill. To their dismay, almost all of the trees were leafless and dry. However, among the dead and lifeless trees, they managed to find one tall tree that had some leaves still on it..

"Petrie, do you think you could fly up there and..?" Littlefoot began, trying to encourage the young flyer.

"No, no!" Petrie immediately answered fearfully.

"Petrie, do not feel sad," Ducky said reassuringly, "Many things can't fly: rocks, trees, Spike."

The group then analyzed the tree for a little bit, looking to see how they could get the leaves down.

Leo took out his katana and swung it at the tree. But the katana only made so much as a scratch on it, which honestly surprised him a bit.

"Huh," He said as put away his sword, "The bark must be to thick to cut."

"So much for chopping it down." Raph said.

"Maybe we could climb it!" Mikey suggested cheerfully before jumping onto the tree and trying to scale it.

"I don't know, Mikey." Donnie stated, putting a hand on his chin, "It looks a bit too high to climb."

As soon as he finished, Mikey slipped off the tree and fell on his shell with a loud thud.

"Oh, so much for that idea." Mikey groaned as he sat up.

"Actually, you might be onto something, Mikey." Littlefoot said, smacking his lips as he gazed hungrily at the top of the tree.

Standing on his hind legs, Littlefoot pressed himself against the tree. Deciding to help out, the Turtles quickly came over to the tree, with Leo and Raph climbing on Littlefoot's back and before grabbing the trunk to steady themselves. Despite Leo and Raph being taller and a little more heavy than he was, Littlefoot was surprisingly able to support their weight.

Donnie and Mikey soon joined them with Donnie climbing climbing on Littlefoot's back and having Leo and Raph hoist him up, seeing as he was the tallest of them. Mikey picked up Ducky and Petrie and climbed to the top of their pile, clinging to Donnie's shell while Ducky stood on top of Mikey's head and tried to push Petrie towards the branches of the tree.

However, as he neared the leafs, Petrie made the mistake of looking down from where he was. His fear of heights immediately returned as he latched onto Ducky's head, clinging to it tightly.

"Hey!" Ducky exclaimed as she tried to push Petrie up again.

"No!" Petrie cried.

"Ducky, Mikey, push Petrie towards the branches." Littlefoot told them as he held Leo and Raph up.

"On, it." Mikey said as he and Ducky pushed Petrie a little closer to the leaves. Petrie shivered with fear as he was hoisted up, but was too afraid to complain about it at the moment.

Spike soon came over to the tree, approaching Littlefoot. "All right, Spike. Not too fast." Leo told him.

Whether Spike understood the blue clad turtle or not, they couldn't tell as Spike began pushing Littlefoot up the branch a little too quickly.

"Whoa! O-okay, not too fast! Hey, not to fast!" Littlefoot exclaimed. But Spike didn't seem to hear or listen as he pushed them up further.

"Whoa! Easy, Easy!" Raph exclaimed as he and the others yelped as they nearly lost their balance. Petrie looked down again, and seeing how high they were now made his stomach to churn, he felt entire body shake violently, and his terror was extreme.

Meanwhile, Cera leaned against a dead tree, laughing her head off as she watched the others try to clumsily stack each other up to reach the leaves.

"You guys look so ridiculous!" Cera laughed.

"That's not helping, Cera!" Donnie grumbled as the others frowned or glared at Cera.

Eventually, Petrie managed to reach the branches. He forced himself not to think about how high he was and instead closed his eyes and began almost savagely tearing the leafs off the branches and letting them drop. However, Spike's eyes lit up as he saw the leafs falling to the ground. Now hungry again, Spike began trying to catch some of the leafs before they hit the ground. Spike climbed back down to eat the leafs while The Turtles and Littlefoot gasped and yelped as they lost their footing on the tree.

Littlefoot wrapped his limbs around the tree, trying to hold on. But the combined weight of all four turtles, Ducky, and Petrie was too much for him as he fell into the pile of leaves that was below him. Leo and Raph soon fell off as well as Donnie and Mikey, each of them hitting the ground with a soft thud. Now only Ducky and Petrie were left as they hung to small frail branch.

"Ducky, Petrie, come down here! We've got green-food!" Littlefoot called up to them.

Ducky nodded before suddenly giving Petrie a big kiss on the cheek, shocking the young flyer before she let go a landed on the pile of leaves below.

"Fly, Petrie!" Ducky called up to him.

Just then, the branch Petrie was clinging onto suddenly snapped off, much to his alarm.

"Come on, Petrie! Flap those wings!" Mikey cheered.

Petrie screamed as he fell, instinctively spreading his wings and flapping them wildly in the air before keeping them straight as he tried to slow his fall. Littlefoot blew a bit of air under Petrie, hoping to help him fly as the little flyer slowly glided to the ground. Petrie landed softly in the pile of leaves, blinking rapidly as he sat up.

"I flied?" Petrie asked. But Ducky gave a sad sigh, causing Petrie to lower his head a bit.

"Well, technically you glided. So I guess that sort of counts." Donnie pointed out, hoping to cheer up the young pteranodon.

Littlefoot then went over to Cera, who was on a ground just a few feet lower near another that also had some leaves on it.

"C'mon, Cera. We've got green-food." Littlefoot invited graciously.

"I can get my OWN green-food!" Cera said as she glared up at them, specifically at the Turtles, as if thinking using the term she had always known would somehow irritate the four terrapins.

However, they hardly reacted at all, which annoyed the headstrong triceratops even more.

Cera then scraped the ground with her foot before she started charging and ramming the tree, trying to get the leafs from the top to fall down with the force of her head rams. Littlefoot and the others looked at each other, then back at the leafs they had gathered just a few moments ago.

Littlefoot went back to the pile, gathering up a handful of leafs in his mouth. On one of Cera's collisions with the base of the tree, Littlefoot threw the leafs down, as if to make it look like the three-horn had knocked them down.

Cera shook her head and opened her eyes to see the fallen leafs around her. She grinned smugly and began to greedily eat it. "See," Cera answered boastfully, "I can take care of myself."

The others simply rolled their eyes at Cera's boasting.

After that, Littlefoot rejoined the other seven and the herbivores began to eat their fill as much as they could.

The Turtles leaned against a large tree as their stomachs started to ache from hunger. They glanced at their backpacks, which still had the fish they caught in them, and the vegetation at their feet.

How in the world were they going to explain this to the others?

"What's wrong, guys?" Littlefoot asked, pushing some leafs over to them with his snout. "C'mon, there's plenty for you too."

"Thanks, Littlefoot," Leo looked at the young apatosaurus, a hesitant look in his eyes, "But..the thing is...we can't eat leafs like you guys can."

At that statement, everyone except Spike turned and looked at the Turtles with mildly surprised expressions. From where she was, Cera looked up with alert, for once suddenly interested in what Leo was saying.

"What you mean?" Petrie asked.

The Turtles glanced at each other, their faces full of nervousness. They knew they were caught. And there was no hiding the truth now.

"Well," Mikey began, "We're actually, uh, omnivores."

Leo, Raph, and Donnie glared at him, causing Mikey to shrink down as they soon expected the little dinosaurs to start panicking. But instead, they just stared at them with confusion.

"What's an omnivore?" Littlefoot asked.

"Uh, how can we put this gently?" Raph pondered, putting a hand on his chin, "You know how sharp-teeth eat meat and how flat-teeth eat plants?"

The kids slowly nodded, unsure about where Raph was going with this.

"Well," Raph continued hesitantly, "Let's just say we're kind of hybrids between the two."

"Hybrid?" Ducky questioned.

"In short..we're sort of.. both." Donnie answered.

With that confession, the dinosaur's eyes widened and their jaws dropped, finally understanding what the Turtles were trying to tell them.

"You mean you're all meat-eaters too?!" Littlefoot said in shock.

The Turtles all looked down in shame.

"Yes." Leo confessed, part of him still hoping they would still accept them.

But, to the Turtles dismay, Petrie shrieked and rushed away from them while Ducky coiled back behind Spike. The only one's who didn't move were Littlefoot and Spike. Spike was still too busy enjoying his meal and didn't really seem to notice the Turtles explanation at all.

Littlefoot, on the other hand, was in a state of shock.

The four noble brothers who been by his side since his mother died were meat-eaters like Shaprtooth and his kind? Of course, he knew they were obviously different from Sharptooth. Plus those granola bars they had been having weren't meat, even he could see that. So they must not be full meat-eaters.

But still, just learning that fact about them was enough to make the young long-neck freeze in terror.

"I KNEW THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG ABOUT YOU!" A voice screamed.

Cera lept up onto the ledge and marched over to the group. Leo held his hands up in front of him in surrender while Mikey fearfully hid behind Raph and Donnie, who became a bit unnerved as the young three-horn approached them. Littlefoot shook his head as he snapped out of his shock and stepped in between the Turtles and the angry three-horn.

"Stop it!" He ordered, "Have you forgotten all they've done for us?!"

"They're meat-eaters, Littlefoot!" Cera shouted, "They even confessed themselves! How do we know they won't turn on us at any moment and decide to eat?!"

"No way, dude!" Mikey cried, as the others felt a bit hurt at that, "We'd never do that!"

"Cera, that's not fair!" Littlefoot rebuked, "C'mon, guys! They have never once made a move to harm us! Not to mention, they let you join our herd! Does that sound like a bad creature to you?!"

"Well, no." Ducky admitted shyly, "but Littlefoot... you have to admit, none of us have had good experiences with meat-eaters."

The Turtles again looked down in shame as the little swimmer said that.

"Ducky!" Littlefoot scolded.

"She have point." Petrie shivered, "Meat-eaters usually mean bad news for leaf-eaters."

"HALF meat-eaters!" Raph corrected.

"Then why don't you just eat green-food?!" Cera snarled.

"We can't!" Donnie answered. "Omnivores like us need meat in order to survive, just like we need fruits and vegetables! We have to balance our dietary needs! But we can't eat leafs like you herbivores can!"

"If that's the case, then why don't you just go and join the other meat-eaters of this world!" Cera said through her teeth.

"Cera!" Littlefoot shouted. "That's taking it too far! They are nothing like that!"

"How do you know?!" Cera retorted. "You've only known them for a day or two! How do you know they won't turn you at any moment?! What else could those weapons be for other than to slice and dice you with?!"

"I KNOW they won't because they're our friends!" Littlefoot stated firmly.

"MEAT-EATER'S like THEM don't have friends!" Cera shouted angrily, causing the Turtles, Raph especially, to clench their fists as they glared at the young-three horn.

"Stop calling them that!"

"ENOUGH!" Leo suddenly yelled.

Everyone turned to the blue clad turtle, surprised by his sudden outburst.

"Look, we get it. You don't trust us, and you have every reason not to, but we would never do anything to harm you." He then drew both of his katanas and placed them on the ground. Raph, Donnie, and Mikey quickly followed suite as they took out their weapons and dropped them on the ground, much to the surprise of the kids.

"There, no weapons, no nothing." Raph gruffly stated. "Take it as a sign of trust. And if that's not good enough, then what is?"

"Yeah, just give us chance! Please?" Mikey begged with puppy-dog eyes.

The kids looked hesitant before turning away from them in a small huddle, as they seemed to be whispering something to each other. The Turtles tried to listen into what they were saying, but couldn't hear anything. The Turtles looked to each other, they knew that now that the kids knew the truth, they would never accept them now. Sure, Littlefoot still trusted them, but they weren't sure if even he could change their minds on this.

After several minutes, the kids turned around with Ducky and Petrie rushing towards the Turtles. Ducky jumped onto Mikey's neck and hugged him tightly, Petrie also lept up and hugged Donnie's arm, Littlefoot came up and nuzzled Leo's face, and Spike came and licked Raph's cheek, much to the Turtles' surprise.

"Oh, guys!" Ducky said in a guilty tone, "We're so sorry! We are, we are!"

"Yeah!" Petrie replied in the same way, "We very sorry! Can you forgive us?!"

Though still confused, Mikey was the first one to smile, "Of course we can!" He said happily as he hugged Ducky back.

Spike licked Raph on the cheek again. Raph winced at the gesture, mostly because it was a very slobbery lick. He wiped it away with the back of his hand and brushed it against his leg before smiling a bit and patting the stegosaurus' head.

Donnie couldn't help but chuckle fondly as he stroked Petrie's head with his hand.

"Your letting us stay?" Leo asked, still trying to process what was happening, "Why?"

"Littlefoot convinced us to." Ducky explained as Mikey and Donnie set her and Petrie down.

The Turtles looked towards the young long-neck in honest surprise.

"Listen, guys," Littlefoot said, "you told us the truth and we should respect that. Besides, that's only a small part of you. My mother always taught me to judge someone by their character. You guys may be half-tooths, but you've shown to be brave and loyal friends. And that's what counts the most."

The Turtles each gave a warm smile at the kids acceptance of them.

"Thanks, Littlefoot." Leo said, patting Littlefoot's head gently.

Littlefoot smiled back before looking towards Cera, who had a rather neutral face. Which was quite strange considering that the young headstrong triceratops usually had either an angry or snobbish expression.

"Don't you have something to say, Cera?" The young long-neck prompted in a rather forceful tone of voice.

Cera looked at the Turtles for a moment, and then dropped her gaze in a shameful manner.

"I...I'm sorry for what I said before." She simply said, but not sounding too sincere. It was there, but very subtle. She just sounded rather embarrassed if anything.

"Hey, it's all good." Raph replied, not wanting to press the matter any further.

"Well," Leo shifted the attention away from the current subject, "it's getting late. We should probably set up a camp and get some sleep. We've got a big day tomorrow."

The group agreed as they spread out across the area. The sun had finally set, and the night sky was now a beautiful shade of blue. The stars twinkled from above as the moon rose from the horizon. The Turtles and Littlefoot had set up near a large T-Rex shaped footprint while Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike and gone past a dead tree and were now laying on a small rocky edge.

As the they set their bags down, Donnie and Mikey emptied out the fish they had gotten from the river while Leo and Raph went to go search for some firewood. Although slightly disturbed that the Turtles had to also eat meat, Littlefoot didn't let that bother him as Donnie and Mikey collected several rocks and put them in a circle.

"What are you guys doing?" Littlefoot asked curiously.

"Making a camp fire." Mikey replied casually.

"Your making fire? Why?" Littlefoot questioned as he was confused at why they make something that was so uncontrollable.

"To keep us warm." Donnie answered. "By placing these rocks around the fire and putting the wood in the center, we can have a controlled fire so we don't have to worry about burning ourselves."

Littlefoot simply nodded, a tad surprised that they could control and make fire, but after hearing other things the Turtles had talked about, he was more accepting of their ideas.

Leo and Raph soon returned with some wood and dumped it in the center of the circle. After that sitting down, Donnie got out the flint and steel and began scraping them against each other, trying to get some sparks going. As Donnie finally was able to get enough sparks going to start a fire, Littlefoot lay down on his stomach as he decided to get some rest.

Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey each took a fish out of their backpacks, put them on some sticks and raised them over the fire to cook. For a while, all that could be heard was the crackling of the roaring fire as a small smoke rose from the flames and into the air above.

"You know," Donnie started as he and his brothers finished eating their cooked fish, "I don't think Cera would be so bad if she wasn't such a stubborn little jerk."

"Yeah," Raph yawned, "the little loudmouth just needs some discipline."

"I can hear you, you know!" Cera retorted from where she was.

"Ah, whatever, Cera. Roll over and get some sleep." Raph told her as he lay down on his side.

Mikey yawned as well, "I'm right there with you, bro." He said sleepily as he lay down, "My shell is tired."

Donnie also yawned as he lay down on his shell and quickly fell asleep.

For a few minutes, Leo and Littlefoot just sat by the fire, with Littlefoot simply gazing at the ground and Leo looking out into the horizon.

"Leo," Littlefoot spoke up, "I just wanted to thank you. For telling us the truth about you and for being my friend this whole time."

Leo gave a small smile, "That's what friends are for."

"So.. why are you and your brothers trying to get to the Great Valley?" Littlefoot asked out of curiosity.

Leo sighed, "Let's just say we're looking for something, is all."

Littlefoot simply nodded, not wanting to prod any further. There was another brief silence between the two before Leo spoke up again.

"How are you holding up?"

"I don't know to be honest." Littlefoot replied, looking down.

"Your really something, you know that?" Leo began, "The others are barely keeping it together, but you're keeping a cool head, your taking charge. That's something admirable."

Littlefoot looked up to him slightly, "Yeah, well, to tell you the truth, I'm scared. I'm scared that were not gonna make it to the Great Valley."

Leo put a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up as the blue clad turtle had a serious and yet soft expression on his face, "Never give up hope. That was the greatest lesson my father taught me when I was your age."

Littlefoot looked to him with a small smile, "Thanks, Leo. I really needed that."

"Anytime." Leo replied, patting Littlefoot's shoulder.

"Your father also sounds very wise." Littlefoot added.

Leo chuckled a bit, "I think you'd like him." He then stood up and put the fire out with some sand, "I'll take the first watch. Get some sleep, Littlefoot."

The young long-neck nodded as he lay down and tried to fall asleep.

Leo walked over and sat down in a large T-Rex like footprint, drawing one of his swords as he looked out over the landscape. As he gazed up at the stars, his mind wandered elsewhere. He missed the Lair, New York, and most of all Master Splinter. What if they couldn't find the Shell-Former? What if they were stuck in this dimension in this time forever? Leo's face turned a tad solemn as he contemplated this.

As Littlefoot tried to sleep, he noticed Leo was sitting in the footprint, looking mildly distressed. Concerned for his friend, Littlefoot got and walked over to the blue clad turtle, snuggling into his chest. Though taken by surprise at this action, Leo didn't pull away and instead smiled a bit as he leaned into the snuggle.

Raph, Donnie, Mikey saw this as well and got up, walking over and lying down with Leo and Littlefoot in the giant footprint, snuggling with their older brother.

Meanwhile on the rocky edge, Ducky suddenly woke up due to Spike's loud snoring. She tried putting her head under Spike's stomach to blot out the noise, but it didn't work either. Ducky lifted her head out, still hearing Spike's incredibly loud snoring. She looked over to the giant footprint and saw Littlefoot, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey sleeping in it while Leo was still awake and on guard. Wanting to get away from the snoring, she sleepily walked over to the footprint. Leo looked at Ducky oddly as she approached, wondering what she was doing. Ducky then lay down and snuggled in between Mikey and Littlefoot, feeling very much at peace now.

Soon, Petrie couldn't take the snoring anymore either and got off of Spike's head before wandering over to the footprint and snuggling in between Donnie and Ducky. He had always been timid around everyone he met. But this time, he felt safe snuggling with his new friends. Spike soon also lumbered over and rested in the footprint with the group.

Cera shivered from the cold winds that blew through the air. She opened her eyes and quickly realized that she was alone on the rock. She looked over to the footprint and saw the rest of the group snuggling together and sleeping peacefully. Despite her pride, Cera didn't want to be alone and so got up from the rock and walked over to the others. Cera slowly stepped into the large footprint and snuggled herself between Littlefoot and Raph.

As the others slept peacefully, Leo couldn't help but give a small smile as he too was starting to get tired.

With one last yawn, Leo closed his eyes and fell asleep.


	6. Sharptooth Returns

Chapter 6: The return of Sharptooth

It was morning as the sun slowly rose over the eastern horizon, giving the sky a gold and pink color. Light whips of clouds swept across the sky as a light breeze blew over the deserted and barren land.

The Turtles and the kids were fast asleep, some of them snoring loudly as they slept in the large footprint. The nine of them were huddled closely together in a protective nest, as if they were afraid to stray too far in fear of losing one another. Leonardo leaned against the wall of the footprint with Littlefoot hugged close to his chest. Littlefoot's head rested underneath his chin and his forelimbs were in his lap. Cera rested right beside Littlefoot, her face buried into his side as she slept almost peacefully. Raphael was resting his head on Cera's back like a pillow while Donatello lay across his chest with Petrie laying on his head. Michelangelo lay his head on Donnie's shell while Ducky and Spike both lay on his stomach.

They seemed very peaceful at the moment.

But as they slept, Cera could've sworn she heard the sound of low growling from nearby. Her eyes immediately snapped open and she looked around the footprint, trying to find the source of the growling.

She peeked over the wall of the footprint...and her eyes widened in terror as her body shook with fear.

No no no no! Not here! Not now! She had to wake the others!

"Wake up!" Cera whispered to the group, trying desperately to get them up. But the others seemed to ignore her as they continued to sleep.

"Wake up!" Cera whispered again, this time nudging Littlefoot with her beak.

Littlefoot groggily opened his right eye, "Hey, stop that." He mumbled as Leo began to stir as well.

"Shh," Cera shushed, "Sharptooth!"

"Cera, stop it!" Littlefoot said tiredly as he got up from Leo's lap.

"HE'LL EAT US!" Cera shrieked, almost immediately waking the others, "HE'LL EAT US! RUN!"

Cera took off running as the others sat up, waking from their sleep.

"Ugh, what is it this time?" Raph questioned grumpily as he rubbed the tiredness out of his eyes.

Leo looked over the wall of the footprint and saw Cera sprinting away from them.

"Cera! Where are you going?!" Leo called out.

Suddenly, a large shadow loomed over the group. They gasped in shock to see a large Tyrannosaur looming over them, it's mouth dripping with saliva. The Tyrannosaur had brown scales and a swollen right eye.

It took almost an instant for Littlefoot to recognize the Tyrannosaur. The same one that chased him and Cera. The same one that killed his mother.

"Sharptooth!" Littlefoot shouted in horror. Instantaneously, the group was wide awake as they shot up from the ground tripping and stumbling over each other in a panic, their eyes wide in both shock and fear as they gazed up the Tyrannosaur.

"He's alive?!" Mikey cried in shock as he and the others couldn't believe their own eyes.

"Apparently!" Raph replied in equal shock. "Looks like Cera was right! Sharptooth is alive!"

For several moments, no one moved or even breathed as they were frozen with fear as Sharptooth approached them.

"Now everyone take it easy," Leo whispered to the others, "no sudden movements. T-Rex have terrible eye-sight."

"A-actually that would be a myth," Donnie stammered, "they have better visual acute than Eagles and-and-and Hawks."

"Meaning?" Littlefoot asked nervously.

"He can totally see us!" Donnie exclaimed.

"Okay, run!" Leo yelled.

The group ran away from Sharptooth as fast as they could, not even bothering to look back as they ran as they followed Cera. The earth shook beneath them as Sharptooth chased after them.

Even though they were running as fast as their legs could carry them, they could feel that the Tyrannosaur was coming closer! They soon rounded a sharp corner around a large rock, seeming to briefly lose Sharptooth for a moment as they ran.

From there, they could see a large rock wall with a small hole that was just big enough for them to fit through. However, they could hear Sharptooth was getting closer to them.

"There's not enough time to get us all through!" Littlefoot exclaimed.

"Now what do we do?" Mikey cried.

Leo paused for a moment as he thought. His face then hardened with resolve as he suddenly drew his katanas.

"We'll have to fight him!" He declared.

"Are you crazy?!" Cera exclaimed in shock. "You guys don't stand a chance against him!"

"Yeah, we can't stop a T-Rex with sticks and blades!" Donnie agreed.

"Well we can at least distract him!" Raph rebuked, pulling out his sais.

"Ninjas versus dinosaur! Let's do this boi!" Mikey cheered as he spun his nunchucks.

* * *

Sharptooth quickly caught onto the smell of the children. Rounding he giant rock, Sharptooth spotted the kids trying to get through the hole. Sharptooth roared as he charged towards the kids.

The kids screamed as death seemed to be upon them. However, before Sharptooth could kill the children, he felt a rock hit his head. He turned to Mikey and Raph throwing rocks at him.

"Hey, ugly! Over here!" Raph shouted.

"Come and get us!" Mikey also shouted, blowing a raspberry at the Tyrannosaur.

Enraged, Sharptooth charged at the two turtles who dared to mock him. However, Raph and Mikey quickly jumped out of the way as Sharptooth tried to bite them.

Unbeknownst to Sharptooth, Donnie ran up to the edge of a nearby rock, staff in hand, and jumped towards Sharptooth. The Tyrannosaur turned just in time for Donnie to smack Sharptooth across the face with his staff, causing the large dinosaur to stagger back a little.

This gave Leo the chance to throw a smoke bomb into Sharptooth's face, disorienting the Tyrannosaur as purple smoke filled his vision. As the dinosaur was distracted, Leo rushed in, swords blazing as he quickly went around cutting several parts of Sharptooth's body with his swords, leaving several scratches and scars on the Tyrannosaur's skin.

Sharptooth roared in pain as he felt every one of those cuts on his body. It now occurred to him that he was now starting to get tired. How could this be happening?! How could these four little creatures be overwhelming someone as powerful as him?!

Meanwhile by the rock wall, the kids could only watch in shock and amazement as they saw the Turtles fighting Sharptooth and apparently winning.

"Wow! They VERY brave!" Petrie said in amazement as they watched and tried to shove Spike through the hole, who was much too big to fit through.

"They are brave! They are, they are!" Ducky said.

"Wow, they really aren't afraid!" Littlefoot said in awe as the Turtles continued to fight Sharptooth.

Before Sharptooth could do anything, Mikey quickly wrapped his kusari gama chain around the Tyrannosaur's legs. And before the Tyrannosaur could react, Raph jumped off a large rock and dropkicked the back of his head, causing Sharptooth to trip over Mikey's chain and fall to the ground.

Sheathing their weapons, the Turtles ran back to the kids who simply stood in amazement.

"Don't just stand there," Raph stated as they began trying to push Spike through the hole through the hole, "Let's go!"

It didn't take long for Sharptooth to recover as he quickly got back up, completely infuriated at how the Turtles had bested him.

Standing at full height, Sharptooth lunged towards the rocks. Now starting to panic, the group was now desperately trying to push Spike through the tunnel. Sharptooth dived for the group and inadvertently pushed the group out on the other side with the force of his collision.

The group tumbled down the small slope on the other side in a pile of tangled limbs before coming to a stop at the end of the slope. The group quickly untangled themselves and stood up, wiping the dust off themselves as they looked back to see Sharptooth had gotten his snout stuck in the opening. The jaws snapped vainly as he struggled to break free, but with hardly any success.

The group all breathed a sigh of relief as it seemed that they were safe for the moment. They were breathless and weary from the nasty shock as they all panted heavily.

"Phew!" Mikey exclaimed as he wiped the sweat off his brow, "That was close."

"Yeah." Leo breathed, "Too close."

"Now will you believe me?!" Cera panted, casting a glare at Littlefoot.

"I'm sorry," Littlefoot replied humbly, "we're safe now."

"Nobody's safe with you!" Cera shot back.

Littlefoot looked away, unable to hold anyone's gaze.

Then, with a violent jolt, he realized his tree-star was gone!

That's right; Sharptooth had trampled it as they were escaping. Littlefoot hung his head sadly as the last gift from his mother, the last thing he had to remember her by, was now gone. His heart ached at the pain of losing such an irreplaceable gift.

However, his sorrow was soon set aside as he gazed at the Turtles with an awed expression.

"You..you guys just beat Sharptooth!" He exclaimed.

The rest of the kids also quickly realized this as they looked upon the Turtles with admirable surprise. NO ONE ever stood up to Sharptooth and lived to tell the tale. But the Turtles, who were smaller than anyone who would ever take on the likes of that monster, stood up to him and got away with it!

"Woo hoo!" Mikey suddenly cheered with an excited expression, "We did it! We beat Sharptooth!"

The other's shared Mikey's joy as the other turtles began to laugh in both joy and relief while the kids huddled around them, showing their gratitude. Spike licked each of their cheeks, Ducky and Petrie embraced each of them, laughing with joy, and Littlefoot wrapped his neck around them.

"Okay, I admit it," Cera sighed, "you guys were pretty brave back there. Thanks."

The Turtles smiled at Cera. This time, the young triceratops felt sincere in her thanks. It was rather nice to see that from someone with a fuse as short as Raph's and had been rather grumpy and ungrateful a majority of the time.

"Those moves were amazing! They were, they were!" Ducky exclaimed excitedly.

"How you learn to fight like that?" Petrie asked. "Me never see anything like that!"

"That, little dudes, is Ninja training." Mikey replied.

"Ninja?" Littlefoot asked. "What's a ninja?"

"A ninja is a warrior skilled in ninjutsu." Leo explained.

"What the heck's ninjutsu?" Cera questioned.

"It's an ancient fighting style from where we come from." Donnie explained. "It focuses primarily on stealth and power along the use of many tools and weapons, and some wisdom along the way."

"But how did you guys learn to fight like that?" Littlefoot asked.

"Our father, Splinter, taught us." Leo replied. "He was a powerful ninja master, able to take on the deadliest of foes and come on top."

The kids, minus Cera, gasped in awe at hearing the story of such a strong and skillful being.

"Wow, he sounds strong. He does, he does." Ducky said in awe.

"You guys would love him." Mikey said.

"Yeah, he was the best guy we ever knew." Raph stated, a knowing grin on his face.

"Well," Donnie began, getting up and readjusting his backpack, "On the other note, you'll be happy to hear that we're almost at the Great Valley."

"What?" Littlefoot looked up. "How do you know?"

Donnie simply pointed to a nearby rock with his thumb.

Everyone turned and saw a large rock towering over them many feet above them. But this wasn't just any rock.

It was a rock that was in the shape of a long-neck!

"It's the great rock that looks like a long-neck." Littlefoot whispered in awe. A big grin then came to his face, "We're going the right way!" He exclaimed happily. "The way to the Great Valley!"

Everyone's spirits rose as they continued westward, leaving Sharptooth behind on the other side of the rocky wall.

After an hour or so of walking, the group reached a rocky ridge that seemed to reach up to the grey sky. From the base of where they were standing, small specks and pieces of ash began to gently rain from the sky, coating the ground in some kind of grey imitation of snow.

Ashes and grey skies could only mean one thing: they were getting close to the burning mountains.

"Looks like we'll have to climb over." Littlefoot said.

"Then we better get started," Leo stated, hoisting himself up onto a rock, "Come on."

Little did any of them know, the climb over the ridge wasn't going to be an easy one, even for the Turtles. In fact, it was going to be harder than they ever imagined.


	7. Breaking Apart

Chapter 7: Breaking apart

Sharptooth managed to pull his snout out of the hole in the rock wall. Warm blood slowly trickled out of his many wounds and dripped onto the ground below. His body ached with every step and his legs throbbed horribly. Since he couldn't walk normally, he had to limp his way around the rocks. This would severely slow him down and it would allow his prey to get further and further away from him.

The four shell-backs were to blame for this! It seemed he had highly underestimated their skills. They would pay dearly for this!

Ignoring the constant pain coursing through his beaten body, he continued in pursuit of the group. He was going to get his revenge no matter what. Only this time, he would have to go after the little group directly. And of course, he knew exactly where they were going.

Before they would reach their precious safe haven, he would lie in wait for them. Then, when they least expected it, he would exact his revenge and kill every last one of them.

After he was done with the little runts, he would move on to the Great Valley itself. Once he was done there, it would be nothing but a graveyard.

No place would be safe for a leaf-eater. Not as long as he lived.

* * *

Winded and exhausted, the group continued up the side of the mountain range. Bits of ash continued to rain down from the sky as dismal clouds covered the sun.

The Turtles and Littlefoot were at the front while Spike, Ducky, and Petrie were in the middle and Cera was in the back.

They had been climbing the mountains for at least three whole hours now, taking only short breaks here and there. All of them were tired as their muscles ached and their morale was starting to drop again. With every step they took, they didn't seem to be getting any closer to their destination. They had to climb on top of rocks of all sizes, jump over large gaps and small chasms, and sometimes go out of their way to find a good place to keep a foothold because some areas were just too steep.

The Turtles looked back at the others, and they could tell they were almost at the end of their strength.

Littlefoot also looked back at the others as well. He understood that they were tired and hungry, as he felt the same way. But they were so close to the top and they couldn't give up now!

"Come on, you can't quit now," He encouraged, "What if the Great Valley's just over the top of these rocks?"

Ducky, Petrie, and Spike looked up at Littlefoot with pitiful expressions while Cera gave an irritated one. They slowly got to their feet and continued at a steady pace.

As they got higher up the mountain, the wind grew stronger and soon began blowing ash and dirt all around them. Because of this, it made climbing all the more difficult as their bodies themselves seemed to get heavier. But they tried their best to ignore it as they continued towards the top with no intention of stopping.

Eventually, the group came to the top of the mountain as the thick cloud of dirt and ash began to subside. The group looked over the edge, hoping to see the Great Valley below.

But once the ash and dirt cleared, their spirits immediately plummeted.

Down below them was nothing more than another dry and barren ravine, with no trees or water anywhere in sight.

"THIS IS YOUR GREAT VALLEY?!" Cera shouted, causing an echo through the canyon. "YOUR CRAZY!"

Everyone turned to Cera, who was now furious and frustrated.

"I'm leaving!" Cera stated crossly as she turned away.

"Cera, we have to keep following the sun westward." Leonardo said, trying to persuade the young triceratops. But Cera wasn't having any of it.

"I'M taking the easy way for once!" Cera retorted, sticking her horn up as she began to march away.

Littlefoot, on the other hand, had finally had enough of Cera's attitude as he rushed out in front of her and stopped her from going.

"But it's the wrong way!" He said harshly as he got in Cera's face.

"Who says?" Cera mocked.

"My mother!" Littlefoot shot back.

"Then SHE was a stupid long-neck too!" Cera snobbishly replied.

The group gasped at Cera's comment.

"She did not just-" Donatello muttered shock.

"She just did." Raphael said in equal shock.

"Not cool, Cera!" Michelangelo shouted with a scowl.

"How can you say something so cold and heartless?!" Leonardo exclaimed angrily.

"Quiet, guys!" Cera retorted.

Littlefoot was livid! Three-horn or not, NO ONE had the right to insult his mother like that!

"Take that back!" He demanded.

"Never!" Cera refused.

"TAKE IT BACK!" Littlefoot shouted angrily, rearing on his hind legs and making Cera step back.

"NO!" Cera shouted back, refusing to swallow her pride.

That was the last straw!

Before the others knew what was happening, Littlefoot, fueled by anger and rage, rammed his head into Cera, knocking the wind out of her and sending them both careening over the edge of the cliff!

"Littlefoot! Cera!" Donnie called out as he and his brothers quickly jumped down the slope, following the two fighting children.

Spike peeked over the edge of the slope and peered down the hill.

"Spike, no!" Ducky told him as she and Petrie tried to stop him. "Don't do it!"

However, as they tired to pull Spike up, they lost their footing on some unstable rocks and ended up sliding down to the bottom of the hill. They looked up and saw the Turtles observing the furious fight between Littlefoot and Cera.

Cera got up and charged at Littlefoot, ramming into his side.

He yelped as she sent him tumbling into a nearby rock. His side throbbed as got back up, staggering a bit as he angrily lunged towards her again. This time, Littlefoot managed to clamp down hard on one of Cera's forelegs with his mouth.

"LET GO OF MY LEG!" Cera painfully cried as she rammed her horn into's Littlefoot's side again, causing the young long-neck to let go.

The two then head-butted and began to push and shove each other around.

Ducky, Petrie, and Spike watched sadly as their two friends fought while the Turtles were looking for a way to stop the fight.

Leo gave a small sigh. He really didn't want to do this, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Before anyone knew what was happening, Leo rushed forward and pinched Littlefoot and Cera underneath their jaw bones. The two children both let out strangled gasps of pain as their pressure points were hit.

"Alright, you two, enough!" Leo scolded as he released them. Littlefoot and Cera fell limply to the ground, gasping for breath before Cera finally stood up, glaring hotly at Leo.

"You stay out of this, Leo!" Cera angrily shouted at him, jabbing an accusing paw in his chest.

"Knock it off!" Leo snapped, slapping Cera's paw away, much to everyone's shock, "What do you want from us, Cera?! I don't see you coming up with any bright ideas! And fighting amongst each other isn't one of them! We need a smarter plan than that!"

Cera growled like a feral dog at the blue clad turtle. "I am so sick of you, Leo! Who put you in charge anyway?! We were doing just fine without the 'mighty and powerful Leonardo' to help us!"

"And how you've been acting qualifies as just fine?!" Raph questioned, stepping up as he too was fed up with Cera's attitude. "Constantly bullying everyone around you, always acting like your better than everyone, and even insulting Littlefoot's mom for crying out loud! Meanwhile, we've been working our butts off to get to the Great Valley, which is more than I can say for you, you little runt!"

Cera glared towards Raph. "What did you say?!"

"You heard me!" Raph retorted. "You've done NOTHING to help us! All you've been doing is pouting and whining like a little baby!"

Cera's anger grew as she glared fiercely as Raph.

"Well I say who needs you?" Raph continued. "You want to go your own way, fine! But you'd be on your own. We've got more important things to worry about! So you can either help us, or get lost you good for nothing whiny little brat!"

In anger, Cera charged at Raph, ramming into him and slamming him into a nearby rock, much to everyone's shock.

"Fight?" Mikey quietly asked the others.

Donnie simply nodded. "Fight." He replied simply, his voice serious as he led the others away from the soon-to-be-another- 'battle' ground.

Raph slowly got back up, his breathing like that of a wild animal. "That's it." Raph hissed as he then jumped to Cera and kicked her hard in the side, sending her sliding into another nearby rock.

Snarling angrily, Cera got up from the ground as she and Raph glared daggers at each other.

Accepting the challenge, Cera scraped the ground with her foot before charging at Raph again. But this time, Raph was ready.

As Cera got close to him, Raph stepped out of the way, sticking his foot out and causing Cera to trip on it. As she did, Raph grabbed her by the frill and threw her into another rock.

"You say how your so sick of us, well _We _are sick to _death _of your bad attitude!" Raph shouted, finally having enough of Cera as she got back up. "Why do you have to act so tough and be such a jerk all the time?!"

"What did I do?! Why are you talking to me as if it's my fault?!" Cera yelled angrily.

"Because it _IS _your fault, you idiot!" Raph snapped, "This whole mess is _all your fault_! If it weren't for you being so careless and smug, Sharptooth would never have followed you and we wouldn't be running for our lives right now! None of this would have happened if it weren't for _you_!"

Cera stared wide eyed at Raph in silent shock.

Donnie, Mikey, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, and even Littlefoot and Leo stared at the two in disbelief. Of course, this was Littlefoot, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike's first time seeing Raph so angry. And it honestly scared them.

Cera's anger boiled as she looked down to the ground. "Oh yeah..? Is that how it is..?" She whispered before stomping past the red clad turtle and headed away from the group, "Well, I'll just take my attitude and go the EASY way for once!" She shouted over her shoulder.

"Good! Why don't you?!" Raph shouted back, not losing his glare at Cera.

Littlefoot also never lost his glare at Cera, and never averted it away from the headstrong three-horn. Tears of anger welled up in Littlefoot's eyes as he watched Cera walk away, but he refused to let them fall.

"GO ON!" Littlefoot shouted angrily as he got to his feet. "GO THE WRONG WAY! WE NEVER WANTED YOU WITH US ANYWAY!"

"Got that right!" Raph agreed before he and Littlefoot turned away from Cera and began approaching the other slope. "C'mon, guys! I've had it with that jerk!"

Leo, Donnie, and Mikey seemed to agree with the red clad turtle and the young apatosaurus as they too glared in Cera's direction before following them towards the slope. As they were about to go up the slope, they looked back to the others. Only to see that they weren't moving, their eyes kept darting back and forth between Cera and Littlefoot's paths.

"Come on, guys," Donnie said gently, "we've gotta keep moving."

"Yeah, the Great Valley isn't gonna find itself." Mikey added.

Littlefoot turned around and looked at the group below.

"Cera's way is easier." Ducky said meekly.

"I think so too." Petrie added, equally meek.

For the first time in his life, Littlefoot felt like he had been betrayed. He scowled at them before he turned away and began climbing up the slope again.

"Oh, Flat-head, wait!" Petrie cried as he got up from the ground and tried to climb up after Littlefoot. "No be angry," Petrie began to slip on some of the rocks as Littlefoot kept on climbing, not even turning to face him, "WAIT!" Petrie cried as he tumbled back down the slope.

"Cera!" Ducky called out as she, Petrie, and Spike started to follow her. "Wait for us! We're coming with you, Cera!"

Littlefoot continued up the slope, not looking back until he got to the top. He turned around and saw the others following Cera northward. Littlefoot felt a nasty jab at his heart as he saw his so-called 'friends' walk away. His mother was right about herds never doing anything together. They were just too different.

As he thought this, he heard the sound of rocks shifting and tumbling below him. He looked over the edge of hill to see that the Turtles were climbing up the slope towards him.

"Guys?" He said, his eyes wide with surprise.

"We promised we'd stay with you at your side, Littlefoot, no matter what." Leo stated as he and his brothers reached the top, "And we intend to keep that promise."

Littlefoot smiled a little, at least he still had four wonderful friends that didn't turn their backs on him.

The five of them silently continued westward. However, Mikey began to frequently look back over his shoulder. He was still worried about the others. Although he and his brothers were keeping a promise, they were also breaking it. He didn't want to leave his brothers or Littlefoot, but he felt it was wrong to leave the others behind.

That's NOT what a team does!

They hadn't gone more than half a mile when he finally made up his mind. And so, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, much to his brothers and his friend's confusion.

"Guys, we've gotta go back." He said, his voice unusually stern.

Leo, Donnie, Raph, and Littlefoot looked surprised at the orange clad turtle's tone. Mikey being serious was often something very rare. And the way he was standing made it clear that he wasn't budging on the idea.

"I know what Cera said was totally mean, but that's doesn't mean we should just leave her and the others behind!" Mikey explained.

"We didn't leave them behind!" Littlefoot rebuked, still upset. "They were the ones who abandoned us!"

Donnie stiffed apprehensively at that remark before he then walked over to Mikey.

"We ALL abandoned each other!" Donnie shot back, siding with his younger brother. "We all went our separate ways and didn't even try to stop each other!"

"You heard what they said!" Raph stated, taking Littlefoot's side. "They said they'd rather go the easy way than the right way!"

"All the more reason why we should've stopped them!" Leo argued, now getting into the conversation and joining Donnie and Mikey. "In times like these, unity is important!"

Tension slowly began to rise as the three turtles, their hotheaded brother and long-neck friend continued to argue. Soon enough, even they couldn't restrain their own tempers as they gave into their stress and frustration.

"You saw what happened when we tried to work together!" Littlefoot shouted. "Different herds can never do anything together because we CAN'T get along!"

"We're not even dinosaurs and your herd accepted us with no problem!" Mikey angrily pointed out.

"That was different!" Raph retorted. "We were on our own and had no one!"

"They were also on their own when we took them in!" Donnie snapped. "isn't that what a team does?!"

"None of us we're the same species!" Littlefoot yelled.

"That's not what being a team means!" Leo shouted. "Team means family!"

Whatever Littlefoot and Raph were going to say before instantly died in their throats. Their faces changed from angry to surprised in a heartbeat, as did Donnie and Mikey's.

"Wha..what did you just say?" Littlefoot asked, his voice suddenly soft.

Leo, seeing Littlefoot and Raph's reactions, relaxed his shoulders as his face changed to that of a calmer one.

"Team means family." Leo repeated. "And family isn't just something you're born into. It's about those who are closest to you. Friends are part of your family too." He then looked directly to Littlefoot, "Even though we told you we were omnivores, you still let us stay with you. It doesn't matter what you eat, where you come from, or what species you are because when your family, no one gets left behind. And although your mother..."

Leo paused for a second, knowing he was treading on a very sensitive subject.

"Although your mother is..gone, she's still with you as long as you remember her. And you'll never forget her because she's your family."

Littlefoot stared at that the blue clad turtle in stunned silence as he continued.

"Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike are like us: a bunch of kids just trying to find a place to call home. They need us, and we need them too. Because we're a team."

There was another long silence before Raph looked down in guilt. Leo was right, they should have stayed together, and now they were farther apart than ever before.

"You're right, Leo." Raph admitted sadly. "We are a team. I'm sorry."

Mikey smiled and hugged Raph, "It's all cool, bro." Mikey assured.

Littlefoot looked away in shame. He now realized that he was just making up excuses to be angry. Leo, Donnie, and Mikey were absolutely right and he knew it. Besides, even if his mother said that different species never did anything together, he knew deep down that she would never have wanted him to turn his back on someone in trouble.

"I'm sorry," He whimpered, almost on the verge of tears, "I'm so sorry."

Leo's face softened to a genuine smile as he laid a hand on the young long-neck's shoulder.

"It's not too late," He stated calmly. "We can still catch up to them if we hurry."

Littlefoot looked up at the blue clad turtle and smiled as he embraced the blue clad turtle, who returned the embrace.

With a newfound motivation, Littlefoot whipped his tears away with the back of his paw as he and Leo released from their embrace.

"Then let's go." Littlefoot said, his voice filled with determination.

"And this time, we'll _stay_ together." Raph added with equal confidence.

With that said, the Turtles and Littlefoot turned around and set out in a dead sprint back towards the volcanoes.

It was time to get the team back together.


	8. The Mountains that Burn

Chapter 8: The mountains that burn

As Littlefoot and the Turtles drew closer and closer to the mountains that burn, the little herd of four continued down their path through the pass itself.

Molten lava flowed down from the volcanoes like deadly streams, making the heat nearly unbearable. Every so often, a small flaming rock would fly down into the river of fire near them. This just made them all the more frightened as they went.

What's worse, the sun was completely blocked out by the smoke and ash, leaving only the harsh burning glow of the lava as their light source.

"I-I wish Littlefoot, Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey were here with us." Ducky shuddered as they walked over a land path with lave flowing below them.

"M-Me t-too." Petrie shivered behind Cera's frill.

Cera simply ignored them and continued to walk on. The swelling in her leg had gone down and she was able to walk normally again, but the bite mark from the young long-neck was still visible. Cera scowled a bit as her thoughts turned back to Littlefoot and the Turtles. Those jerks! She was sick of them making her look like the bad guy all the time! Better to go on without them and get to the Great Valley by herself without having to worry about going easy on those softies!

Spike, being the one who easily got distracted, spotted a small source of vegetation and suddenly stopped. Almost immediately forgetting the current danger, he walked over to the small bush and started to yank it out of the ground.

"Spike, do not stop!" Ducky told him as she jumped off his back and tried to pull the plants out of his mouth. "We must stick together!"

Cera didn't seem to notice (or even care for that matter) that her two comrades had fallen behind as she continued to walk on the trail until she and Petrie came across a small gap in the path. Below them was a pit full of black goo. And as if that wasn't bad enough, it didn't help that they could see the bones of a few dinosaurs who had been unfortunate enough to step into the goo in the middle of the pit.

Masking her fear, Cera walked over the small gap. Although it though it was a bit of a large distance between the two gaps, she would still have to jump over it to avoid the goo below. As she was about to take the leap, the earth itself seemed to tremble as the smoking mountain looked like it was getting ready for another burst of fire. Petrie slipped off of Cera's back and gripped her leg in fear.

The moment the rumbling stopped, Cera leapt across the gap.

At the same moment, without warning, Petrie lost his grip on her leg. He screamed as he clumsily whipped around in the air, trying desperately to fly as he frantically flapped his wings. But they failed to safe him and he fell straight down into the black goo. He gasped for air as he struggled to get out, but he continued to sink deeper and deeper into the muck.

"CERA, I FALL OFF!" He shouted frantically, but the young three-horn didn't seem to hear him as she continued on.

Now panicking, Petrie thrashed around violently, screaming and shrieking as loud as he could.

"AUGH, DUCKY, SPIKE, HELP!"

* * *

Just a few minutes later, the Turtles and Littlefoot reached the volcanoes. However, they didn't stop running for a second as they could now hear the sounds of their friends calling out for help.

The five of them rushed to the edge of a small hill, and below them they saw Ducky and Spike stranded on a small piece rock in the middle of a river of lava. The land bridge the the swimmer and the spike-tail had been on was now mostly gone, and the small rock Ducky and Spike were on was now starting to sink into the lava.

"Guys!" Ducky cried out when she saw them.

"Ducky!" Littlefoot called out.

"Hold on! We're coming!" Donatello shouted as they bolted down the slope towards the edge of the lava river.

Immediately spotting a large jagged cubic rock, Littlefoot tried to push it, getting an idea of using it as a stepping-stone for Ducky and Spike to cross back safely, but with little success. So Leonardo and Raphael went over and kicked the rock, causing it to topple over into the river and splattering a bit of lava up. Startled, Ducky accidentally slipped off Spike and fell towards the river. Luckily, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Littlefoot jumped on the stone Leo and Raph had pushed over and Donnie grabbed Ducky just in time before handing her to Mikey, who then put her on Littlefoot's back.

"Quick! This way!" Leo shouted as Mikey, Ducky, Spike, and Littlefoot hastily jumped back to the shore while the stones sunk into the lava.

"C'mon!" Littlefoot said. "We've gotta find the others!"

The group then heard a loud panicked shriek coming from nearby. It was Petrie! Running as fast as they could, the group raced over another hill and saw Petrie was trapped in small tar pit.

"We're coming, Petrie!" Raph called out as they rushed down to the tar pit.

However, as they approached the tar pit, the group noticed another problem.

"He's too far out for us to reach!" Leo observed.

"I got this, dudes!" Mikey reassured as he extended his kusari-gama chain and wrapped it securely around a nearby rock. Quickly catching onto the idea, the group quickly went into the pit, linking arms and forming a chain to reach Petrie. Mikey and Littlefoot were at the back, Leo, Donnie, and Raph were in the middle, and Ducky and Spike were at the front of the chain.

The tar was surprisingly deep and warm as they went in, but they didn't have time to ponder on that now as they tried desperately to reach Petrie.

"Oh, Ducky, Littlefoot, Leo, Donnie, Mikey, Raph, Spike! Petrie am so happy to see you!" Petrie exclaimed joyfully as he was now neck deep in tar. Just as Petrie's head was about to go under the tar, Ducky managed to grab Petrie and pull him onto Spike's back. But unfortunately, as Ducky pulled Petrie out of the tar, she accidentally slipped off of Spike's head and fell into the tar.

Ducky cried out for help as she coughed and gagged on the tar as she thrashed wildly, trying to get out. With some form of luck, Petrie was able to grab Ducky's hand before she sank any further. However, the group quickly noticed that they were quickly sinking into the tar.

Mikey pulled harder on his chain, trying to keep the others from sinking. But this proved to be in vain as the rock finally broke from the strain on the metal chain. The group fell completely below the tar pit before coming up and gasping for breath.

Now that they were all stuck in the pit, sinking and on the brink of death, what were they supposed to do now?

Well, for them, the answer to that question was quite simple.

_**Panic.**_

"HELP!" Littlefoot shouted, hoping at least someone would hear him. But no one did as the group continuously struggled to get out, calling out desperately for help, despite how futile it seemed.

* * *

"HELP!"

Cera darted away from the dome-head that was closing in on her. As it slammed it's head down, intending to crush her underneath it's skull, Cera jumped up onto a nearby ledge.

Since the cavern had very little light shining through the cracks in the ceiling, the young three-horn almost ran into another dome-head that ambushed her from the front. Luckily, Cera was able to see it at the last second and skidded to a stop, just barely managing to jump out of the way as it pounded it's head into the ground.

Cera quickly darted in the opposite direction, with another dome-head hot on her trail. She soon ran into yet another dome-head right in front of her. The dome-head snarled at her as the other one from behind began charging at Cera. Thinking fast, she jumped off the edge, just narrowly avoiding their bone-crushing head-butt.

Cera screamed as she landed, just missing her footing and tumbling to the ground.

The three dome-heads then surrounded her, ready to finish her off!

"HELP ME!" She screamed desperately in terror. "HELP ME! HELP!"

But just as the dome-heads closed in for the kill, there was an unnatural chilling soft hooting cry that came from nearby. They all looked to the entrance of the cavern to see some sort of large black thing.

It was unlike anything they had ever seen before in their lives, and it was hideous to look at. The skin looked slimy and gross, with horns-like twigs sticking out of it's head. The creature had a long nose somewhat like an elephant, a fat belly, and a tall, mostly thin body that walked on four legs.

The creature moved closer to them, and again giving it's soft hooting cry.

It seemed it was enough to scare the dome-heads as they turned around and dashed away in panic.

However, Cera was too scared and tired to run. She was frozen with fear as the creature approached her. Regaining her composure, Cera swiped at the creature with her paw as it's nose came down and grabbed her by the tail.

"Stop it!" She shouted as she thrashed around. "Let go of me!"

But the thing didn't let go of her, and instead continued to lift her off the ground, dangling her upside down.

"HELP!" The young three-horn cried in terror as she shut her eyes. "HELP! PETRIE, SPIKE, DUCKY, HELP!"

At that moment, a small familiar voice came from the creature.

"Cera, it is us!"

Cera's eyes snapped open as she recognized the voice. It was Ducky! Feeling relieved, she turned around to see her friends. But her joy was immediately gone when she saw three things: Littlefoot, the Turtles, and the fact that they had now burst out laughing.

Jerking herself out of Littlefoot's grip on her tail, Cera fell into a small puddle of tar with a loud 'SPLAT'. She quickly got up to her feet and stood defiantly.

"I knew it was you all along!" She shouted angrily. "I knew! I did!"

Of course, no one paid attention to her as they were too busy laughing about their victory as well as Cera's reaction to their disguise. They secretly felt a grim satisfaction to the headstrong three-horn's panic, even if the prank wasn't intentional.

"You should've seen the look on your face!" Raph exclaimed as he and the others laughed.

Cera scowled even harder.

"Oh, get out of my way!" She grunted as she stomped off.

However, since she wasn't looking where she was going, she slipped on another puddle of tar and landed flat on her front.

The whole group laughed again as she fell, the Turtles, Littlefoot, and Spike looked close to tears as they laughed while Ducky nearly kneeled over as her sides began to hurt and Petrie fell over on his back as he laughed so hard he could barely breath.

Cera got up from the puddle, sticking her tongue out at them with her horn up, and began to walk away again. This time, she walked right into a stalagmite, causing the group to laugh even harder at her continuous stream of clumsy moments.

Finally having enough, Cera gave a snobbish gesture and walked down the slope towards a nearby waterfall.

After a while, the group's laughter subsided and eventually faded. They then looked in the direction Cera had walked off.

"Cera?" Ducky questioned as the group walked over to the slope to see Cera walking away.

"Cera! Come back!" Littlefoot called out. "Cera!"

Leo laid a hand on Littlefoot's shoulder, "Let her go." He told him, his face full of understanding. "She needs to be on her own for a little bit."

Though a tad surprised, the group simply agreed as they walked back through the cave. As they walked, they each bore a slight look of guilt, even Raph, for pranking Cera.

Had they been too hard on her?

* * *

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the slope, Cera sniffled a bit as she approached the waterfall. She had heard Littlefoot's pleas to come back, but she ignored them as she felt completely humiliated.

She lay down on the soft earth, buried her face in her paws, and began to cry.

Cera was still too proud to admit that she had gone the wrong way.


	9. The Final Battle

Chapter 9: The final battle

After a minute or two of walking through the cave, the group came out to find a small pond. Deciding to take this opportunity to relax, the group quickly got into the water, washing the rest of the tar of their bodies and enjoying the coolness of the water.

The Turtles sat down in the shallow end of the pond, washing some remaining tar off them while Littlefoot and Spike swam about in the shallows, and Ducky ventured a little further out to the deepest part of the pond. Petrie, however, remained on the edge of the pondl, still too afraid to go fully into the water.

However, their moment of peace and tranquility was shattered by the sound of an all too familiar roar that sent shivers down their spines as they turned their heads towards the direction of the roar.

"AGH! SHARPTOOTH!" Petrie screamed, instantly recognizing the roar.

The whole gang immediately got out of the pond and rushed behind a large rock the second they heard the small flyer shouted the monster's name.

The moment they were all out of sight, they carefully peeked out from behind the massive boulder. And sure enough, it was Sharptooth.

He was near the top of a large cliff that was on the same side as they were. The sun burned high in the sky behind the small mountain he was on, casting a large nightmarish shadow down below him.

"It's Sharptooth alright." Littlefoot whispered as they saw Sharptooth sniff the air intently.

It was pretty obvious that he was trying to catch their scent.

"He must have followed us here." Donatello said in a hushed tone.

Raphael scowled up at the Tyrannosaur.

"I say we take him down once and for all!" Raph whispered.

"I'm with you on that, Raph." Littlefoot agreed.

The others looked towards the young long-neck, a tad surprised at Littlefoot's sudden bravery.

"Raph's right, you guys." Leonardo stated, standing up and siding with Littlefoot and Raph. "If we don't take him down, he'll just keep chasing us, even if we get to the Great Valley. But if we work together, we can beat him."

"But what'll we do?" Ducky asked.

Littlefoot began to scan the area around him. Searching the environment for anything useful. Once he got a good view of what was available to them, an idea quickly popped in his head.

"Look," He said, "we'll coax him to the deep end of the pond. He can't swim with those scrawny arms."

Littlefoot then looked up and saw a tall cliff directly above them with a large boulder sitting on it.

"Leo, Donnie, Raph, Mikey, Spike and I will go up there and push that big rock on top of his head. And then he'll fall into the water."

"That actually might work." Donatello said as he too observed the surroundings. "Nice plan."

"Thanks." Littlefoot replied.

"Alright, it's settled then." Leo stated. He then turned to Petrie, "Petrie, give us a whistle once we get Sharptooth to the deep end of the pond."

Petrie nodded sharply. "You can count on Petrie." He replied, giving a comical salute.

"Now we just need some bait." Raph said.

As if everyone knew what they were all thinking, they turned their heads at the same time and looked directly at Ducky.

"ME?!" Ducky squeaked fearfully. "Oh no! No, no, no, no!"

"Relax, Ducky." Michelangelo reassured as he knelt down to her level. "All you gotta do is get him to the pond and we'll take care of the rest."

"I just cannot do this! No, no, no!" Ducky protested.

Mikey simply smiled and patted her on the back, "Hey, if it makes you feel better, I'll come with you."

The group was quite surprised by this.

"Mikey, we need your help to push the rock." Littlefoot said, confused at the orange clad turtle's choice.

Mikey grinned as he stood up, "Don't worry, Littlefoot. I can help Ducky get Sharptooth into the water and be back up there to help push the rock. Plus, if theres anything I know about bad guys, they love chasing me."

Leo, Raph, and Donnie couldn't resist the smirks that came on their faces.

"Alright then. Be careful you two." Leo told them.

Donnie looked back out from behind the rock and noticed Sharptooth was climbing up higher towards the peak of a small mountain. Following his intended line of direction, the purple clad turtle saw Sharptooth was heading for a large black opening in the side of the mountain.

"Looks like he's headed for that cave." Donnie stated. "If we're gonna do this, then we better get ready while we can."

"Alright! Operation take down Sharptooth is a go!" Mikey cheered.

"Let's do this!" Raph told them as he put his hand out.

Nodding, the others each put their hands and paws on top of his.

"Booyakasha!" They cheered as they broke apart.

* * *

A little while later, while also feeling terribly frightened, Mikey and Ducky made their way up towards the cave Sharptooth had entered. Sticking to the shadows, Mikey and Ducky slowly tiptoed in and hid under a large rock.

The two shivered as they heard Sharptooth stop and growl. Cautiously, they peeked over the rocks and noticed he was looking in the opposite direction. They knew they had to get him out of the cave and down to the pond so the others could spring the trap. But the question was how to do so without becoming his next meal.

Sweat dripped down Mikey's fore head as he was now very much regretting agreeing to do this.

Ducky took a deep breath, preparing to do something that would be considered extremely stupid.

"AAAAAAHHHHH!" She screamed as loud as she could.

Mikey quickly clamped Ducky's mouth shut with his hand and ducked behind the rock again as Ducky's scream seemed to catch Sharptooth's attention. The tyrannosaur's head jerked up in alert as he began to search the cave for the source of the noise.

Their hearts pounding like crazy, Mikey and Ducky peeked over the rocks. And much to their confusion and astonishment, Sharptooth was gone. They hadn't heard him make any steps, but he had some how snuck away. Mikey instinctively took out one of his nunchucks as his eyes darted cautiously around the cave. The two of them listened closely to the eerie silence as the only thing that could be heard at the moment was bits of water dripping down from the ceiling.

They looked around the cavern again, but there was still no sign of Sharptooth.

It was almost as if he had just..vanished.

Cautiously, Mikey and Ducky stepped back towards the exit of the cave. Perhaps Sharptooth went further down into the cave, thinking the scream had come from a deeper part of the cavern.

The two of them were just about to turn around and make a run for the mouth of the cave when...

BOOM!

Sharptooth leapt towards the orange clad turtle and the little swimmer almost out of nowhere!

Mikey and Ducky yelped in terror before Mikey grabbed Ducky and sprinted right underneath the tyrannosaur, just narrowly missing his jaws. Mikey made a mad dash for the exit of the cave, not even daring to look back as Ducky clung to him fearfully.

Sharptooth was in hot pursuit as he dove for the young turtle, attempting to snatch him in his teeth. Fortunately for Mikey and Ducky, he missed.

However, as Sharptooth slid dowm the slope, Mikey jumped up to avoid his jaws and somehow ended up on the end of his nose.

Thanks to the steepness of the slope, the three of them slid down the hill towards the pond at a very rapid speed.

"HELP!" Ducky cried as she, Mikey, and Sharptooth crashed into the shallows of the pond.

The moment they were in the water, Ducky quickly swam to a set of rocks underwater as Sharptooth got up. Meanwhile, Mikey hastily swam to shore before getting out of the water and sprinting up the hill towards the cliff where the others were as fast as he could, hoping that Ducky would be able to keep Sharptooth's attention occupied.

Meanwhile at the cliff, Petrie attempted to whistle to alert Leo, Donnie, Raph, Littlefoot, and Spike that Sharptooth was where they needed him to be. After about four failed attempts, Petrie finally succeeded, giving a loud whistle up to the others.

Hearing the sound, Sharptooth looked up towards the cliff. Littlefoot, who had summoned up the courage to look over the edge, gasped in horror as the tyrannosaur's eyes made contact with his.

It was quite clear that Sharptooth was very, very angry, as Littlefoot could just see the blood-lust in those vengeful red eyes.

Sharptooth scowled up at the young long-neck and snarled viciously. He had found his prey again, and he was going to finish what he had intended to do from the start.

That little runt was going to die today, one way or another!

"Put your backs into it, boys!" Leo shouted as he, Raph, Donnie, Littlefoot, Spike, and a newly arrived Mikey began to push the boulder. As they did, Sharptooth got ready to jump up towards them. But before he could, Petrie threw a small rock hit that hit Sharptooth on the snout. The tyrannosaur glared up at the little flyer as Petrie laughed a bit.

Enraged, Sharptooth rammed his head against the side of the ledge, causing Petrie to lose his grip on the cliff and fall down towards the tyrannosaur.

Petrie screeched as he barely avoided the monster's snapping jaws. He was then suddenly pushed upward by Sharptooth's breath as the tyrannosaur roared in frustration.

As Petrie flapped his wings to steady himself, he realized that he was still airborne. Although very clumsily, he was keeping himself up in the air.

"I flying." He muttered in shock before a burst of happiness surged through him. "I flying! I FLYING!" He shouted in joy.

For a moment, the little pteranodon was so happy by his new talent that he almost forgot about the danger at hand. Luckily, it wasn't very long before he snapped back to reality.

"HELP!" Ducky cried as she swam away from Sharptooth as fast as she could.

With his newfound confidence, Petrie puffed up his chest before swooping down and grabbing hold of Sharptooth's bad eye. Sharptooth roared in pain and jerked up out of the water, thrashing his head wildly with Ducky hanging onto his snout as he tried to shake off the little flyer.

Sharptooth jumped up onto the side of the ledge, startling the others as he snapped his jaws at them. Though the rock thankfully kept Sharptooth from getting closer to them, this made it even harder to push the boulder off the cliff with Sharptooth now in front of it.

Sharptooth began to push back the rock as he kept snapping his jaws, trying to get the Turtles and the kids. The group pushed back as hard as they could while Petrie tried to poke Sharptooth in his bad eye with his beak, but they were no match for the tyrannosaur's immense strength as he continued to push them back.

However, as it seemed that they were doomed, the group heard a loud cry.

"I'M COMING!" An all too familiar voice shouted. The group looked behind them to see Cera charging towards them!

"Cera! Your back!" Littlefoot exclaimed joyfully as Cera rammed into the boulder.

The force of Cera's ram, along with the combined strength of the Turtles and the kids, was enough for them to overpower Sharptooth, sending him off the edge of the cliff with the boulder.

However, as they plummeted, Petrie tried to jump off Sharptooth's snout, only for the tyrannosaur to catch his foot in his mouth! Petrie shrieked as he plummeted down with the tyrannosaur into the deep part of the pond.

"PETRIE!" The others screamed in terror as they saw their small friend be dragged down by Sharptooth as they landed in the water with a large splash.

As the monster that had pursued them sank down to the bottom of the pond, the group desperately scanned the pond, hoping to see some kind of sign that Petrie was alive.

But nothing came.

A great sadness washed over the group as they began to think that he might not surface at all.

Did they really just lose their friend for good?

"He was my friend." Ducky spoke as tears began to flow down her cheeks. "Poor Petrie."

The group began to walk away as the Turtles held their heads down in sadness while tears began to flow from the eyes of the children.

Ducky, however, stayed by the edge of the cliff, still mourning the lose of her dear friend.

"Poor, poor Petrie." She sniffed as another tears went down her cheek. "Petrie."

However, as Ducky turned away, a certain small little flyer climbed over the edge of the cliff.

"STOP!" Petrie cried, panting heavily as he was completely drenched. "You go without Petrie?"

Everyone stopped, turning around with wide eyes and gasped to see that their friend was alive.

"Petrie?" Ducky gasped as she turned back to see Petrie flop on his back.

"PETRIE!" She cried as picked the small flyer and hugged him tightly, tears of joy flowing down her face. "Your safe! Yep, yep, yep!"

The others cheered and breathed sighs of relief, happy that their friend was still alive.

For a moment, the group stood there near the edge of the cliff, cheering in joy.

At long last, Sharptooth, the 'Walking terror' of the land, was finally gone.

And for Littlefoot, his mother was finally avenged.

* * *

As evening closed in and the sun set on the horizon, the group decided to rest in the large cave at the top of the mountain for the night. As they made their way up, Donnie and Leo had managed to find a few dry sticks that they could use to make a camp fire.

When they finally reached the cave, the two turtles made a small fire pit out of medium-sized rocks. They then put the sticks into the fire pit before Raph took out the flint and steel, struck them together, and created a fire that sparked to full life in a matter of minutes.

For a moment, the Turtles and the kids sat around the fire, all completely silent as the only thing that could be heard was the spark and crackling of the fire, and the dripping water of the stalagmites deep within the cave.

Finally, Mikey took in a deep breath, "Boy, what a day, huh?"

"Yeah." Cera said, watching the flames curl and flicker as bits of ash and smoke drifted into the air. "Who would've thought that we would end up doing the impossible?"

"I know." Ducky nodded. "We defeated Sharptooth himself. And we're just hatchlings."

"No," Leo shook his head softly, gazing around at his brothers and friends. "we're more than that. We're survivors and adventurers."

Everyone smiled at that statement. After everything they had been through, that was definitely true.

"You think anyone will know about this?" Petrie asked.

"We'll know." Littlefoot stated proudly. "We were quite a team today."

"Got that right." Raph replied. "We beat all odds by working together. That's something we'll never forget."

Everyone else nodded in agreement. Indeed it was a fact that they would never forget.

After everyone had taken a moment to let that feeling sink in, Cera turned to Littlefoot and said, "Littlefoot, I just want to say that I'm sorry about what I said about your mother, and I take it all back." She then turned to others, "And I'm also sorry for being so horrible to you guys."

Everyone's eyes widened in shock at Cera's sudden apology. None of them had ever expected a three-horn of all dinosaurs to ever admit that they were sorry. Littlefoot especially was taken by surprise by this. It was the last thing he was expecting Cera to say.

He then gave a soft smile and said, "It's okay, we forgive you."

Cera looked up at him with hopeful eyes and beamed. She had never thought that forgiveness could feel so good, even if it was from a long-neck.

Donnie then turned to Petrie and said, "Congrats on finally earning your wings, Petrie."

Petrie gave a big smile and began to fly in circles around the group.

"Me a true flyer now!" He said gleefully.

Everyone couldn't help but laugh a bit with pride at the little pteranodon's victory. Feeling a sense of joy and relief, the group crowded together in a group hug, each of them enjoying each others' company.

Once again, they were a herd. Only now, their bonds were stronger than ever before.

Then, as if to remind the others of how tired they all were, Spike let out a loud yawn and stretched his limbs.

"I think Spike has the right idea." Ducky said drowsily. "Yep, yep, yep."

"Yeah, your right." Littlefoot said, yawning himself. "We better get some sleep. We've got a long day tomorrow. I just hope it's the last one for this journey."

The group huddled together and drifted off to sleep, cherishing the comfort of each other as the warmth of the fire slowly faded.

**Hey, guys! Calmoose here! I just wanted to thank you guys for all of your support, as well as this story getting of one thousand views. Thank you so much, bye!**


	10. The Great Valley

Chapter 10: The Great Valley

The next morning, as the sun's morning rays began to shine through the mouth of the cave, the Turtles slowly opened his eyes. They lifted their heads and looked at his sleeping companions, smiling a bit when they saw they were all safe. However, he soon noticed Littlefoot was missing. They looked towards the cave's entrance and saw Littlefoot just standing there outside as he gazed out into the open.

Not wanting to disturb the others, the Turtles slowly got up from the pile and walked and over to him.

"Good morning, Littlefoot." Leonardo greeted.

Littlefoot turned his head around and smiled, "Good morning, guys. Sleep well?"

"Eh, it was alright." Raphael shrugged. "So, what are you doing out here?"

"I guess I just woke up early and decided to get some fresh air." Littlefoot shrugged.

There was a moment of silence in between for a bit as they simply stared up at the sky. As the sun rose, the sky had taken a sort of orangish-grayish hue that looked quite beautiful to say the least.

"It's still kinda hard to believe everything that's happened yesterday." Donatello finally said, breaking the silence.

"I know, right?" Michelangelo agreed. "We took down Sharptooth and now nothings gonna stop us from getting to the Great Valley."

"Yeah, who would've thought?" Littlefoot agreed.

The five friends then looked back up at the sky as the clouds mysteriously began to take shape. One of the clouds that was closest to them slowly morphed into the image of a long-neck.

Littlefoot's eyes glistened a bit as it reminded him of his mother. He hung his head sadly as the Turtles each gave him sympathetic looks. Leo reached out his hand and gently placed it on his shoulder.

"I'm sure your mother would be very proud of you." Leo said kindly.

However, as the wind gently blew around them, they heard a voice that sounded female, elderly, and kind whisper to them.

"_Littlefoot."_

The five of them jolted, looking around with wide eyes, trying to find who had spoken.

"Who said that?" Donnie asked as they looked around.

"Who's there?" Raph questioned as he instinctively reached for his sais.

"Dudes, look!" Mikey exclaimed, pointing to the sky.

The others looked towards the sky and saw a large cloud that was quite close to them. As they studied the cloud more closely, it seemed to strangely take the shape of a long-neck, one that also seemed to be _looking _at them.

"Mother?" Littlefoot inhaled slowly, almost in disbelief.

"_Littlefoot." _his mother's voice whispered, this time a little louder. The voice echoed through the air, sweeping over them all like a warm, welcome wind.

Then, as the cloud began to drift away toward the west, Littlefoot felt the strange urge to follow it. And without warning, he took off sprinting after the cloud, much to the Turtles' surprise and confusion.

"Littlefoot, wait!" Leo shouted as he, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey quickly sprinted after him.

"Slow down!" Donnie also shouted, unknowingly waking the others.

Cera was, of course, the first to get up as she saw Littlefoot and the Turtles seemingly sprinting after a large cloud.

"Guys! Where are you going?!" Cera shouted as she quickly got up and ran after them. Ducky, Spike, and Petrie soon got up, rubbing the tiredness out of their eyes before they followed the others.

Littlefoot raced around the hill and into a small cavern with the Turtles close behind him. Like a large wisp, the cloud trailed into the tunnels, almost like it was trying to guide it's followers.

Littlefoot ran down a small slope before skidding to a halt, allowing the Turtles to catch up to him. The cloud rose higher into the sky, taking on the form of Littlefoot's mother again. As if a ray of light shone from her heart, sunlight shone through the cloud and quickly spread across the land below.

Littlefoot, Leo, Donnie, Raph, and Mikey stared in wonder as they saw the landscape before them. Just below them was a huge valley with large green meadows and fields, lush forests, dozens upon dozens of beautiful trees of varying sizes, and several waterfalls flowing down into crystal clear blue rivers and streams and lakes. A sweet, heavenly smell of wildflowers filled was swept up by the wind as if to welcome them to this wondrous place.

There was absolutely no doubt about what this place was now.

"The Great Valley!" Littlefoot whispered in awe as he and the Turtles stared at the scene below them.

"...whoa..." Raph breathed, "so _this _is The Great Valley."

"It's beautiful." Leo said, a smile itching across his face.

"It really is a great valley." Donnie said in wonder.

"Dudes, we made it!" Mikey cheered.

"LITTLEFOOT!" a voice called from behind them.

"CERA!" Littlefoot called out. "GUYS OVER HERE, QUICK!

A few seconds later, the others came rushing through the tunnel behind them. All of them saw the paradise before them and their hearts filled with joy.

At long last, the journey was over! After all the hardships they endured, they had finally reached the Great Valley!

"Littlefoot, you found it!" Ducky squealed in delight. "Yep, yep, yep!"

"We did it!" Littlefoot exclaimed with happiness. "We did it together!"

All at once, everyone rushed down the side of the cliff as fast as they could and ran across the meadows and fields towards the heart of this wondrous place.

* * *

Ducky and Spike headed straight towards a stream of fresh water and jumped in, creating a big splash.

"Ducky, is that you?!"

The little swimmer snapped her head up and looked for the voice that called her name. Happiness swelled within her as she saw her mother and her siblings near the edge of the river. She had finally found her family, and they were all safe.

Rushing to them, Ducky embraced her mother as Spike skidded to a stop near the family of swimmers.

"This is our new brother, Spike!" Ducky introduced as she released from the embrace of her mother and hopped onto Spike's back.

The little swimmer's mother smiled as she bent down and lovingly nuzzled her daughter and adoptive son.

Ducky jumped into the water and embraced each of her siblings before climbing on top of Spike and welcoming their new brother into their family.

* * *

Petrie flew up to the top of a large tree and found his mother as well as his siblings. To his relief and joy, they were all safe and sound.

Proudly, Petrie glided down towards them.

"Mama, I a flyer!" Petrie cheered joyfully as he flew into his mother's arms. Petrie's mother embraced her son tightly as the little flyer's siblings cheered as they saw that their brother had finally returned.

* * *

"Daddy!" Cera cried as she ran through the tall grass towards the elderly three-horn.

"Cera?!" her father looked up in surprise as he heard his daughter's voice.

Cera raced straight through a patch of flowers as she ran up to her father and lovingly nuzzled him. Cera's father was stunned to say the least, but his astonishment quickly faded as gave a genuine smile and nuzzled her back, simply happy that his daughter was alive.

* * *

Littlefoot sprinted down to an open meadow of the valley where he dashed towards the two elderly long-necks that were his grandparents.

"Grandma! Grandpa!" He shouted happily as he reached them.

"Littlefoot!" the two elders exclaimed.

The moment they all met up, the two old apatosaurus' tenderly nuzzled their grandson. The three of them laughed merrily at the joy of finally being reunited at long last.

"Oh, Littlefoot." Grandma Longneck smiled, tears brimming in her eyes.

"But...how did you make it here?" Grandpa Longneck asked with amazement.

Littlefoot turned his head and looked back at the Turtles as they approached them.

"They helped me." Littlefoot replied with a smile. "Grandma, Grandpa, I'd like you to meet Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo."

The two elderly long-necks gazed down at the Turtles who simply smiled back as they bowed their heads slightly.

"We were happy to help your grandson." Leo said with the others nodding in agreement.

Grandma and Grandpa Longneck lowered their heads to them and the four brothers found themselves caught between them as the two elderly long-necks gratefully nuzzled them.

"Thank you so much for helping our grandson." Grandma Longneck told them.

"Eh, it was nothing." Raph replied with a small smirk.

"Your welcome, by the way." Donnie added.

"No problemo." Mikey said.

* * *

About an hour or so later, the dinosaur kids was happily running (or flying in Petrie's case) across the plains of the Great Valley. With their journey finally over, they could finally enjoy themselves and have some fun again. No more running away from predators, no more climbing huge mountains, no more missing their families, and no more worrying about when they'll find food.

Everything they needed was right here in the valley.

Well, almost everything.

The Turtles had sat down on a small hill, watching with amused smiles as the kids played. However, as they did, they couldn't help but feel a little solemn as they still hadn't found the Shell-former and they still didn't have a way to get back home to New York.

The kids soon noticed this as they walked over to them with concerned expressions.

"You okay, guys?" Petrie asked, landing down in front of them. "You look really sad."

The Turtles glanced at them before glancing at each other.

"It's just.." Leo hesitated, "My brothers and I are looking for something here and we haven't found it yet."

The dinosaur children crowded around the four brothers as they did their best to give them comfort.

"I'm sure you'll eventually find whatever your looking for." Cera said, trying to be optimistic.

"Cera's right." Ducky nodded. "After all, we are a herd. Yep, yep, yep."

"And we never leave anyone behind, right?" Littlefoot added. "You guys helped us. And now it's our turn to help you."

Spike simply nodded in agreement.

The Turtles smiled as they stood up.

"Thanks, guys." Raph said. "We needed that."

Suddenly, there was a loud beeping sound coming from Donnie's belt, startling everyone. Donnie reached into his belt pocket and pulled out his scanner, much to the surprise of the dinosaur kids.

"Guys, the Shell-formers close!" Donnie exclaimed, much to Leo, Raph, and Mikey's shock and the dino kids confusion.

Donnie then pointed his scanner towards a small forest, "It's this way!"

Without a word of explanation, the Turtles ran off into the forest.

"Guys, where are you going?!" Cera shouted as the dino kids followed them.

Pushing past several thick bushes and branches, the Turtles soon came into a large open area with a wide shallow trench that stretched through the area, and along it were several fallen trees and smashed bushes. And at the end of the trench, much to the Turtles' joy and relief, was the Shell-former completely and surprisingly intact.

"There it is!" Raph exclaimed as the Turtles rushed up to it.

Donnie pressed a small butted on his scanner, causing door in the back of the Shell-former to slid open. Donnie walked into the Shell-former as Leo, Raph, and Mikey waited outside as the dino kids quickly caught up to the Turtles and their eyes widened in shock as they saw the Shell-former.

It was unlike anything they had ever seen. It looked like a large strange rock to them, but when they walked up to it and touched it, it didn't feel like a rock at all. It felt cold and smooth unlike the normal rough and dirtiness of a rock.

"What is this thing?" Littlefoot asked in astonishment.

"This is what we were looking for this whole time." Mikey explained.

"Look, this is gonna sound really crazy and hard to believe, but we're actually not from this world." Leo added.

The kids looked wide-eyed at that statement. Another world? What did that mean?

"So, if you are not from this world, then where are you from?" Ducky asked.

"It's a long story, so you should probably sit down." Raph replied.

With that, the three turtles then told them about their lives back in New York. How Splinter encountered the kraang and was mutated into a rat, how Splinter adopted and raised the Turtles, how they were trained in to fight in the ways of the ninja, all the adventures they had since coming to the surface, all the mutants and ninjas they had to fight on a daily basis, all the friends they had made...

...and of course, about the glorious wonders of the food of all foods, pizza.

Though they left a few details out of their stories, the Turtles told them the best they could. And needless to say, the kids were in a mixture of shock and amazement.

"Wow, you guys have been through a lot." Cera said with the others nodding in agreement.

"So, what you do now?" Petrie asked.

"Well, that depends." Leo answered. "If Donnie can get the Shell-former working, we can go home. But if he can't..then we'll probably be stuck here for a while."

The group simply sat there for a few minutes, waiting for Donnie to come out of the Shell-former and explain the situation.

Littlefoot finally broke the silence as he spoke up, "Hey, do you have dinosaurs in your world?" He asked.

The children glanced up at the Turtles, eager to hear the answer. However, the three turtles' faces turned solemn and serious, which slightly unnerved the young children.

"Well, we did." Mikey answered stupidly, only for Raph to smack him upside the head.

"What do you mean 'we did'?" Cera asked.

Leo, Raph, and Mikey looked at each other hesitantly before looking back at the kids with utter seriousness.

"Well, first off, you have to promise not to freak out." Leo said calmly.

The kids slowly nodded, a little nervous where they were going with this.

"Dinosaurs in our world are extinct." Raph explained, his voice low and somewhat solemn. "Meaning they are all dead and have been for millions of years."

The kids eyes widened in shock and stepped back a little, for they were not expecting that answer at all.

"So," Littlefoot began nervously. "your saying that all dinosaurs will die out in time?"

The three turtles thought for a few moments.

"Actually, I don't think so." Leo replied. "You see, according to history in our world, you and Cera wouldn't have existed in the same timeline."

"Yeah, as we went with you guys, we noticed some dinosaurs from different time periods actually coexist in this world." Raph added.

"Don't worry about it, guys." Mikey said cheerfully. "I'm sure you'll be just fine."

While the idea of extinction was still disturbing, the kids managed to smile as the three turtles gave them back a sense of hope. They told them the truth, and they could respect that.

After what felt like an hour of waiting, Donnie finally exited the Shell-former, a neutral look on his face.

"What's it look like, Donnie?" Leo questioned.

"Well, I have good news and bad news." Donnie replied. "The good news is that the Shell-former is almost completely intact. The bad news is that it's impact landing has busted a few of the systems, plus it will take a while for me to calculate the right temporal and dimensional coordinates."

"So we're stuck here?" Raph questioned.

"For now, anyway." Donnie answered. "We just need to make a few repairs and we'll be able to go home."

"But, where are we gonna stay until then?" Leo asked.

Littlefoot looked back to his friends who all nodded in agreement.

"You could stay in the Great Valley with us for now." Littlefoot suggested.

The Turtles were surprised at the young long-neck's generosity, but the soon smiled in relief.

"Thanks! Your awesome little dino dude!" Mikey said as he hugged Littlefoot.

"Well, this also gives me the chance to test out the house-hold form." Donnie added as he took out a small remote and pushed a button on it. Before their eyes, the inside of the Shell-former began to transform with several things inside shifting and changing before finally taking the form of the inside of a comfy home.

"Wow." Leo, Raph, Mikey, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike all gasped in awe as they observed the inside of the Shell-former.

"This looks awesome!" Raph cheered as the Turtles quickly rushed inside and inspected their new temporary home.

* * *

Later that day, the Turtles played several games with the kids in which many involved running and chasing and tackling. They were all laughing and having fun as the sun began to set over the horizon.

After bidding one last good bye, they all headed back to the their respective homes with Littlefoot going to his grandparents, Cera going to her father, Ducky and Spike going to their parents, Petrie going to his mother, and the Turtles going back to the Shell-former.

As sleep claimed each of them, they couldn't help but feel at ease knowing that their journey was finally over.

And what would come next, only time would tell.

_To be continued..._

**And that's the end of that! If you liked this story, I had a very fun time writing it!**


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